El Paso, TX -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/23/2013 -- The RRA Center, developer of the world's first automated human credibility and risk assessment system, has created a portable vetting kit for military Special Operations Forces. The kit was designed to offer an alternative to the problematic handheld polygraph which, according to US Department of Defense (DoD) studies, can only correctly identify the truth 50% of the time.
Commander Ivan Ortega of the RRA Center advised the next-generation Remote Risk Assessment (RRA) system has been configured for tactical use by Special Operations Forces, and is capable of accurately vetting hundreds-to-thousands of individuals per day. According to Ortega, the RRA tactical vetting kit is highly portable, automated, and provides unbiased assessments in any language. And, since it is automated, the system can be used 24-hours per day.
"Even under the best circumstances the old, manual polygraph is only capable of vetting a few individuals per day - and the results have been shown to be unreliable in complex combat environments. The US Air Force even released an official report stating the polygraph was ineffective for vetting in support of combat operations. Because of the ongoing controversy surrounding the polygraph, I have been asked a number of questions about the differences between RRA and polygraph. Many asked why a handheld polygraph was issued to the US military after scientific studies conducted by the DoD showed this device was no better than flipping a coin. In my opinion it is a national embarrassment that the US Army issued hundreds, perhaps thousands, of these devices to combat soldiers. The extremely poor accuracy rate of this unproven device was well known to US Army polygraph officials - but they ignored the facts and deployed the system simply to block a more accurate voice-based technology which was already being used with great success in combat zones by US Special Operations Forces."
"There was even a book written about this tragedy - THE CLAPPER MEMO. The book was written by author and investigative journalist Bob McCarty, and it documents how a small group of federal bureaucrats campaigned for the use of the polygraph over a more accurate voice-based technology that was already combat-proven after years of use. Such misguided decisions by Army Intelligence officials resulted in the wounding, maiming, and deaths of dozens of US military and civilian personnel, primarily because the Army-designed vetting process was ill-conceived and ineffective. The US Army Intelligence branch, called the 'G2', and its senior officers are largely responsible for this tragedy, but they continue to put their collective faith in the old-fashioned polygraph. The polygraph's failure in both Afghanistan and Iraq is well documented, but doesn't receive much publicity. It has also been repeatedly discredited by the US scientific and legal communities. In my opinion the reckless decisions by so-called Army "experts" have, in part, allowed insider attacks to continue in Afghanistan. These criminal attacks by Afghan military and police members occur regularly and have resulted in the killing or wounding of scores of US and NATO members since 2007."
About RRA
Ortega stated the primary purpose of RRA and the new portable RRA tactical vetting kit is to evaluate human credibility and risk factors that impact upon suitability, loyalty and trustworthiness. "RRA is now being implemented globally by forward-thinking institutions to enhance personnel reliability programs. RRA is simple to use, reliable, highly-accurate, cost-effective, and easy to deploy. And, RRA can conduct thousands of risk assessment interviews per day, which makes it ideal for high-volume security screening operations which require rapid results."