LIFE & TRENDS To Spy a Lie BY TROY ANDERSON C


ia officers are masters at detecting lies and deceit. In fact,


knowing the diff erence between truth and deception is often a matter of life or death for intelligence agents. In a new book — Spy


the Lie: Former CIA Offi cers Teach You How to Detect Deception — former CIA offi cers Philip Houston, Michael Floyd, and Susan Carnicero show how certain behaviors are indicators of deception. You don’t have


time, making inconsistent statements, and going into attack mode against the questioner. One surprising signal


is invoking religion, he says. Saying things like, “I swear to God,” or “As God is my witness” is often an attempt to “dress up a lie in its Sunday best,” Houston says. The nonverbal


A new book by three former CIA


to be a trained spy to recognize lies in everyday encounters, they say. You just have to know what to look for. “The genius in the methodology is in its simplicity,” says Houston, who developed the model while conducting thousands of interviews and interrogations during a 25-year career as a CIA investigator and polygraph examiner. “When you think about the average


person, lying is something they are aff ected by every day. Whether it’s in their relationships, dealing with their kids, dealing with their boss and


co-workers, buying a new car or buying a house — they are faced with deception. Research shows that people lie on average at least 10 times every day.” The most important clues for spotting lies, Houston


tells Newsmax, occur in the fi rst fi ve seconds after asking a question. He also suggests looking for a “cluster of deceptive indicators” before concluding someone is lying. “If I just see or hear one deceptive behavior, it really


doesn’t mean anything,” says Houston, now the chief executive offi cer of QVerity, a Greenville, N.C.-based provider of behavioral analysis and screening services. “I need to see two or more in response, and obviously the more you see the higher the probability that you have a liar on your hands,” he says. Obvious signs of untruthfulness include failing to


directly answer a question, repeating a question to stall for 68 NEWSMAX MAXLIFE | MARCH 2013


agents reveals how anybody can learn to separate truth from deception. ::


clues of lying include behaviors like hiding the mouth or eyes with a hand or object, throat- clearing or swallowing, and what Houston describes as “anchor- point movements” — physiological body


movements to dissipate anxiety. “We are not worried about the traditional kind of


nervous gesturing and fi dgeting,” Houston says. “What we are interested in is when the question or stimulus provokes someone to move what is anchoring them to the ground.” This means moving their chair if they are sitting, or


taking a step if they are standing. Houston also looks for “grooming gestures.”


Research shows that


people lie on


average at least 10 times every day.”


— Philip Houston, former CIA offi cer For a man, this might involve adjusting his tie, shirt


cuff s, glasses, or other such fi dgeting responses. An untruthful woman might move a few strands of her hair behind her ear, or straighten her skirt. “People also groom things around them,” Houston


says. “They’ll straighten papers on a desk, move a bottle of water, adjust their coff ee cup or any number of things of that nature. It’s almost as if they are trying to dress up their surroundings so everything looks perfect as they tell a whopper.”


LIAR/MEL CURTIS/PHOTODISC/GETTY IMAGES / HOUSTON/COURTESY OF QVERITY


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92