Adrian Blomfield of the London Daily Telegraph reports that, starting in July, those traveling to Russia will have to take a lie detector test before exiting the airport (Blomfield, "'Truth Verifier' Interrogates Russia Travelers on 'Lies,'" Wash. Times, 4/6/2006). Travelers will be required to speak into a handset which can apparently measure the veracity of their words:
I wonder how Bonds would answer the question "Have you ever lied to the authorities?" Or how about the question "Are you carrying any narcotics?" Assuming the handset rejected Bonds' answers, I have a feeling the resulting "more rigorous interrogation" by Russian security guards in the "more intense atmosphere" would be a tad scarier than whatever George Mitchell has planned (although Mitchell did impressively command the respect of those involved in the Belfast Peace Agreement, so who knows).The machine asks four questions: The first is for full identity; the second, unnerving in its Soviet-style abruptness, demands: "Have you ever lied to the authorities?" It then asks whether either weapons or narcotics are being carried.
Passengers who fail will be subjected to more rigorous interrogation both by the verifier, whose accuracy increases to 98 percent with more extensive questioning, and by its human colleagues . . . [a failing passenger] is accompanied by a special guard to a cubicle where he is asked questions in a more intense atmosphere.
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