Editing Polygraph (section)

===Notable cases===
Polygraphy has been faulted for failing to trap known [[Espionage|spies]] such as double-agent [[Aldrich Ames]], who passed two polygraph tests while spying for the Soviet Union.<ref name="Hess, Pamela 2008"/><ref>Ames provides personal insight into the U.S. Government's reliance on polygraphy in a 2000 letter to Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists at {{cite journal|first=Aldrich|last=Ames|author-link=Aldrich Ames|date=November 28, 2000|title=A Letter from Aldrich Ames on Polygraph Testing|journal=Federation of American Scientists|url=https://fas.org/sgp/othergov/polygraph/ames.html}}</ref> Ames failed several tests while at the CIA that were never acted on.<ref>{{cite web|author=Ronald Kessler|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/08/opinion/spies-lies-averted-eyes.html|title=Spies, Lies, Averted Eyes|work=The New York Times|date=March 8, 1994|access-date=March 19, 2018}}</ref> Other spies who passed the polygraph include [[Karl Koecher]],<ref name="karl">{{cite news|last=Kessler|first=Ron|title=Moscow's Mole in the CIA: How a Swinging Czech Superspy Stole America's Most Sensitive Secrets|newspaper=Washington Post|date=April 17, 1988|page=C1}}</ref> [[Ana Montes]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Bachelet|first=Pablo|title=Book outlines how spy exposed U.S. intelligence secrets to Cuba|publisher=McClatchy Washington Bureau|date=October 13, 2006|url=http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/15754464.htm|quote=She first came under U.S. suspicion in 1994, when Cuba detected a highly secret electronic surveillance system. Montes took a polygraph test and passed it.}}</ref> and [[Leandro Aragoncillo]].<ref>{{cite web|author1=Ross, Brian  |author2=Richard Esposito |name-list-style=amp |title=Investigation Continues: Security Breach at the White House|publisher=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]|date=October 6, 2005|url=https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?id=1190375|quote=Officials say Aragoncillo passed several lie detector tests that are routinely given to individuals with top secret clearances.}}</ref> CIA spy [[Harold James Nicholson]] failed his polygraph examinations, which aroused suspicions that led to his eventual arrest.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dept. of Energy, Office of Counterintelligence|work=Harold James Nicholson Dossier|url=http://www.hanford.gov/oci/ci_spy.cfm?dossier=62#|access-date=2009-06-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080921234938/http://www.hanford.gov/oci/ci_spy.cfm?dossier=62|archive-date=2008-09-21|url-status=dead}}</ref> Polygraph examination and background checks failed to detect [[Nada Nadim Prouty]], who was not a spy but was convicted for improperly obtaining US citizenship and using it to obtain a restricted position at the FBI.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/13/AR2007111302033.html|title=Ex-FBI Employee's Case Raises New Security Concerns Sham Marriage Led to U.S. Citizenship|newspaper=Washington Post|date=2007-11-14 |first1=Joby |last1=Warrick |first2=Dan |last2=Eggen |access-date=May 22, 2010}}</ref><!--- the relevance of this case, currently unstated here for lack of sourced discussion, is that a reader might think ordinary immigrants wouldn't have some special secret polygraph-breaking training that double agents above might have --->

The polygraph also failed to catch [[Gary Ridgway]], the "Green River Killer". Another suspect allegedly failed a given lie detector test, whereas Ridgway passed.<ref name="Lewis, J. A. 2009"/> Ridgway passed a polygraph in 1984; he confessed almost 20 years later when confronted with DNA evidence.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/special-reports/article25855150.html|title=What made Ridgway kill still a riddle|work=The News Tribune|date=2003-11-09}}</ref>  Conversely, innocent people have been known to fail polygraph tests. In [[Wichita, Kansas]] in 1986, Bill Wegerle was suspected of murdering his wife Vicki Wegerle because he failed two polygraph tests (one administered by the police, the other conducted by an expert that Wegerle had hired), although he was neither arrested nor convicted of her death. In March 2004, evidence surfaced connecting her death to the serial killer known as BTK, and in 2005 DNA evidence from the Wegerle murder confirmed that BTK was [[Dennis Rader]], exonerating Wegerle.<ref>{{cite episode|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/btk-out-of-the-shadows/|title=BTK: Out Of The Shadows|series=48 Hours Mysteries|network=CBS News|date=October 1, 2005}}</ref>

Prolonged polygraph examinations are sometimes used as a tool by which [[Confession (law)|confessions]] are extracted from a defendant, as in the case of [[Richard Miller (agent)|Richard Miller]], who was persuaded to confess largely by polygraph results combined with appeals from a religious leader.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afda.org/afda/news/Opinion_Miller.pdf|title=United States of America versus William Galbreth|date=1995-03-09|access-date=2008-02-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227114423/http://www.afda.org/afda/news/Opinion_Miller.pdf|archive-date=2008-02-27|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the [[Watts family murders]], Christopher Watts failed one such polygraph test and subsequently confessed to murdering his wife.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://abc13.com/chris-watts-wife-killed-our-girls-so-i-strangled-her/4009246/|title=Chris Watts: Wife killed our girls, so I strangled her|date=August 20, 2018|publisher=[[KTRK-TV]]|location=[[Houston]]|access-date=February 2, 2019}}</ref> In the 2002 disappearance of seven-year-old [[Danielle van Dam]] of [[San Diego]], police suspected neighbor David Westerfield; he became the prime suspect when he allegedly failed a polygraph test.<ref>{{cite web|last=Roth|first=Alex|url=http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/metro/danielle/20030109-9999_1m9david.html|title=Westerfield failed polygraph test badly: 'Greater than 99%' chance he was lying, examiner says on tape|work=San Diego Union-Tribune|date=January 9, 2003|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929224315/http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/metro/danielle/20030109-9999_1m9david.html|archive-date=September 29, 2012}}</ref>