By Brian Anderson
San Ramon Valley Times

Sept. 29, 1999

Siding with scientists angered by proposed polygraph testing at national laboratories, U.S. Rep. Ellen Tauscher called for a "scaled-down" lie detection program Tuesday to protect the nation's most sensitive secrets.

In a letter to Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, Tauscher, D-Tassajara Valley, said forcing tests upon employees at labs such as Lawrence Livermore and Sandia/California would be ineffective and have a "chilling effect" on recruiting and retaining top-notch scientists.

"What began to concern me as we moved forward over the last few months was the formulation of a plan and the announcement by the secretary of a much broader kind of polygraphing," Tauscher said Tuesday in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C. "That disturbed me because ... it was kind of presented as a silver bullet. There is no silver bullet to protecting our secrets."

In the four-page letter she sent to Richardson on Tuesday, Tauscher called for an immediate moratorium on Department of Energy public hearings on testing and a repeal of a proposal that would widen polygraph use.

She stopped short of demanding an all-out ban on the tests, instead asking for a program that considers the "practical and scientific consequences of polygraph testing." Tauscher did not detail what such a program would include. But she said rather than a broad program, testing should be focused on upper-level lab employees with greater security responsibilities.

DOE officials should also back away from using the measure as a primary means of determining security leaks, she wrote. Testing should instead be one tool in tracking potential breaches in security.

DOE spokesman John Belluardo said he had not seen a copy of the letter and was unsure whether Richardson, who is in Russia this week, received word of the letter.

"We will certainly give Congresswoman Tauscher's letter serious consideration as well as all the comments that we get from the hearings," Belluardo said. "I'm sure that is one of the things the secretary will weigh as he moves forward."

Advised of Tauscher's letter Tuesday, Livermore lab officials said it would not affect the lab's stance on security issues, spokeswoman Susan Houghton said.

"Our position as a lab must be to do whatever is required of us by the DOE to protect national secrets," Houghton said. "We know that this has been an issue for both our employees and the people who could be affected by the testing. We still have to do what we need to do."

Among the lab rank-and-file employees who oppose polygraph exams, Lee McVey said Tauscher's comments are a step in the right direction but do not address the issue of flawed testing technology.

What's now needed is a uniform voice of dissent to keep the ball rolling, said McVey, a lab engineer and a member of the Society of Professional Scientists and Engineers.

"I would hope that other Bay Area representatives would speak out against (testing)," he said, adding that he plans to talk to Rep. Pete Stark, D-Hayward. "I think unless we get multiple members of Congress to side with her it's going to be tough."

Tauscher said she had significant conversations with "people up and down the totem pole" at area labs before deciding to write Richardson.

She also said Tuesday that her decision to speak out against the proposed DOE changes does not contradict her past positions as a department ally on the House Armed Services Committee. She pointed to her recent support of the Defense Authorization Bill, saying Richardson asked Democrats specifically not to vote for the legislation.

Her letter was sent less than a week before the DOE's Monday deadline for comments regarding polygraph testing. Tauscher said she did not wait until after the deadline because there was no compelling indication that a broader policy would better protect the country's secure information.