"Brain Fingerprinting" Could Read Terrorists' Minds
By John von Radowitz, Science Correspondent, PA News

A thought probe that can spot guilty secrets with 100% accuracy could
be used to identify terrorists before they strike, it was claimed
today.

Unlike a conventional lie detector, which looks for physical signs of
stress, the Brain Fingerprinting (BF) test measures tell-tale changes
in brain waves that cannot be faked.

During the 30-minute test words, phrases and images are flashed up on
a computer screen.

If the suspect recognises any of the information, this will be
revealed by signals from electrodes embedded in a headband.

The brain will produce a specific brain wave response called
a "mermer" – an involuntary "ah-ha" reaction to something familiar.

Nothing can stop the brain behaving this way. So if a mermer signal
is obtained in response to information that has never been made
public, it is a clear indication of guilt.

BF has already been used to nail a serial killer and uncover
miscarriages of justice in the United States.

Now, in the wake of the Madrid bombing outrage, there are suggestions
that it could be used against international terrorists.

The system's inventor, Laurence Farwell of Brain Fingerprinting
Laboratories in Fairfield, Iowa, USA, said: "We cannot download the
contents of the brain. But what we can do is determine whether the
suspect recognises details significant in the context of a crime.

"If an elephant were to walk into the room, you may not respond
overtly, but your brain cannot help but recognise that it is an
elephant. There is always the `ah-ha' response in the brain."

When the technique was being developed a study was conducted which
involved identifying FBI agents among a group of volunteers.

Scientists looked for a mermer response to words and phrases that
only FBI agents would recognise. Participants were shown a series of
words and pictures, some of which were relevant and some not.

In the event, the FBI agents were spotted with 100% accuracy. Similar
tests with US navy doctors were equally successful.

Brain Fingerprinting was later tried out for real by police
investigating the vicious murder of a young girl in Missouri.

A man called JB Grinder, who had been the chief suspect for 15 years,
was given the test. It proved that his brain recognised elements of
the crime scene only the killer could have known.

Faced with a probable death sentence, Grinder pleaded guilty in
exchange for life without parole and confessed to three previously
unsolved murders of young women.

BF was also used to acquit a man who was wrongly convicted of murder.
Terry Harrington, a black man, was found guilt of killing a white
security guard in Iowa in 1978.

The BF tests on Harrington showed that the information in his brain
did not match the crime scene, but did support his alleged alibi. A
judge ruled that the evidence was admissible, and the murder
conviction was overturned in 2003.

Another man now on death row in Oklahoma for the murder of his
girlfriend and their daughter was granted a stay of execution last
month because of BF results.

The test proved he had no knowledge of the baby's bullet wounds,
where the woman was killed, or details of the stab wounds inflicted.

An article highlighting the development of brain fingerprinting
appeared today in Chemistry and Industry magazine.

It outlined the technique's potential for identifying trained
terrorists, including those in long-term "sleeper" cells.

"BF technology can be used to detect records in the brain of crimes
in the planning or association with terrorist groups," said the
magazine.

"Tests will use information that only terrorists or gang members
would have access to. This might include details of training camps or
locations specific to a particular group or gang. The results of the
tests will likely be sued to make decisions over who can be safely
issued a visa or given leave to enter a foreign country."

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