Help Stop Polygraph Testing at the National Labs!

          Despite the overwhelming opposition in the labs against the polygraph testing proposal, there is still no sign from DOE that it will be rescinded. In fact, DOE plans to publish the regulations implementing the testing of about 1000 scientists and engineers in mid November. Yes, New Mexico Senators Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici have come out against it; and yes, so did California Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher. They all wrote very nice letters to Secretary Richardson, but are three members of Congress sufficient to stop this? More importantly, are these they really willing to expend more of their political capital for a few thousand lab employees? We are not so sure. In order to stop the implementation, they will need more support. The key is to generate more publicity for that to happen. Only publicity will convince more members of the House and Senate that there is a real groundswell of opposition at the Labs to the use of "the box."

          Click on the link below to read the letter drafted by the Society of Professional Scientists and Engineers (SPSE) to members of the Senate and House of Representatives from the Bay Area (plus Rep. Condit from Stockton) and from New Mexico urging them to oppose polygraph testing. Our aim is to demonstrate to our representatives and the public that the polygraph has low accuracy when used as DOE intends to as a survey instrument. The letter is neither inflammatory nor threatening. We ask that you at least read it, and if you feel as committed as we do to prevent the inception of this testing, please sign with your full name and city of residence. We must use our real names: one letter from 100 real employees will have a much larger impact than 10,000 anonymous letters from unverifiable sources. We urge not only SPSE members, but all our colleagues in Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia National Laboratories who agree with us to sign this letter. We will not send the letter unless we obtain at least 200 signatures, which represent only a bare minimum. Our goal is to collect more than 1,000.

          We will need to verify that those who sign are truly Lab employees. This is how it will work: If you agree with the letter, please enter your lab e-mail address in the space below the letter. We will then send you an email which will ask you to reply (by pressing reply on your e-mail browser) with the following information

1. The statement "I agree to sign the letter to Senators Bingaman, Boxer, Domenici, Feinstein, and Representatives Campbell, Condit, Eshoo, Lantos, Lee, Lofgren, George Miller, Pelosi, Stark, Skeen, Tauscher, Udall, and Wilson, as posted at (http://www.spse.org/Polygraph_letter.html)"
2. Your name.
3. The city and state you live in (format:. Livermore, CA).
4. Your lab phone number (format: ###-###-####).
5. Would you like us to update you by email when we receive new information on the issue of polygraph testing? (Y or N) You can change your mind later by simply sending us an email.

          Your e-mail reply from your lab e-mail address will be required as verification of your agreement to sign the letter and that you are a Lab employee.

          Time is of the essence! The letter will take you less than 5 minutes to read.

As of 8:00 am, January 7, 2000, 469 people have signed the letter.

See the list of signers.

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