For more than 15 years, Robert Hanssen led a double life. In one life he was a 25-year veteran with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) who had access to some of the nation’s most-classified information. In his other life, he allegedly was spying for the Russian government. Hanssen’s deception was eventually uncovered, and in February 2001 he was arrested and later pled guilty to 15 espionage-related charges. Thanks to a lie detector, which is the best instrument under the skies used to find out the truth.

Spies are probably the world’s best liars, but many have the view that lawyers are. Could this be or not be? Most of us practice deception on some level or other in our daily lives, even if it’s just telling a friend that his horrible haircut “doesn’t look that bad,” or jokingly telling someone what is not. People tell lies and deceive others for many reasons. Some lie either because they are afraid of the person whom they are lying to, or lie as a defence mechanism used to avoid trouble with the law, bosses or authority figures. Sometimes, you can tell when someone’s lying, but other times it may not be so easy.

However, Polygraphs, commonly called “lie detectors,” are instruments that monitor a person’s physiological reactions. These instruments do not, as their nickname suggests, detect lies. They can only detect whether deceptive behaviour is being displayed. Do you think you can fool a polygraph machine and examiner? I don’t think so, because this instrument monitors one’s vital signs, which is a combination of medical devices that are used to monitor changes occurring in the body. As a person is questioned about a certain event or incident, the examiner looks to see how the person’s heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate and electro-dermal activity (sweatiness, in this case of the fingers) change in comparison to normal levels. Fluctuations may indicate that a person is being deceptive, but exam results are open to interpretation by the examiner.

Although, many military personalities are trained in order to beat the polygraph, the polygraph still remains a lie detector that is able to detect when a deceptive behaviour is being displayed. It is also imperative to acknowledge that because he is formed in the image of God, Man was not made to lie. 

Tags: FBI, Russian Government, Lie detector, Polygraphs, Robert Hanssen, Spies

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