FBI workers to get lie detector tests

Nearly 500 FBI employees will be ordered to take lie detector tests next week, as a result of the arrest of alleged spy Mr Robert…

Nearly 500 FBI employees will be ordered to take lie detector tests next week, as a result of the arrest of alleged spy Mr Robert Hanssen, the Washington Postreported today.

FBI Director Mr Louis Freeh also wrote a memo ordering reviews of all sensitive investigations to determine if agents have accessed information outside their normal duties, the report said.

The FBI has been criticized in the wake of the spy scandal, with some politicians suggesting Mr Hanssen would have been caught sooner if he had been forced to take a lie detector test.

Among those to be tested next week are 150 top managers at FBI headquarters in Washington and special agents in charge of their departments.

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The tests will be "counter-intelligence focused," the memo said.

Refusing to take the test could mean a job transfer, loss of security clearance or disciplinary action, the Postreported.

"Everybody understands that we have no choice," FBI spokesman Mr John Collingwood told the newspaper.

"No one wants to do anything that indicates mistrust in employees, but everybody recognizes that we had a serious breach here. We have to make sure it doesn't happen again."

People applying for jobs at the FBI have been required to take lie detector tests since 1994.

AP