American Notes National

Ronald Reagan has tried several times to authorize wide use of lie-detector tests but on each occasion has backed down in the face of opposition from Congress or his own Administration. Confronted by the need to police some 100,000 Government employees and contractors who have access to ultrasecret national security information, the President is trying once again. The Los Angeles Times disclosed that Reagan had signed a national security directive on Nov. 1 providing for the polygraphing of federal contractors and employees, including Cabinet members.

The controversial tests will be used primarily for those who hold or apply for "special access," or clearance to handle information with a security rating higher than Top Secret.

White House Spokesman Larry Speakes said the polygraph questions will concern security, not an individual's personal life. Speakes denied that the stepped-up use of lie detectors is directly related to the spate of spy arrests this year. Those cases caused enough alarm about national security, however, that criticism of Reagan's latest resort to the machine has been notably muted.