Shultz Says He’ll Resign If He Has to Take Lie Test : Raps White House Plan for Security

Secretary of State George P. Shultz, reacting sharply to a White House proposal to give lie detector tests to holders of classified information, said today he would resign rather than submit to such a procedure.

“The minute in this government that I’m told that I’m not trusted is the day that I leave,” Shultz said.

Speaking to reporters at the State Department, Shultz said lie detector tests are not reliable and can implicate innocent people as guilty. He added that spies or “professional leakers” probably can train themselves to avoid being exposed by such tests.

Will Discuss Views

Earlier, appearing on NBC’s “Today” show, Shultz said “I have great personal reservations about the utility of so-called polygraph tests and I will discuss my views within the Administration about that.”

Shultz said he talked to President Reagan about the matter at the White House on Wednesday, immediately after returning from a 10-day trip to Europe.

Last week, White House spokesman Larry Speakes said that in the Administration’s security drive following a series of major spy scandals, people with access to classified material would be subject to polygraph examination. He said even Cabinet members might not be exempt from the plan.

Outrage Reported

Shultz was reported to be outraged by the request, but had repeatedly refused to discuss the issue with reporters traveling with him throughout Europe.

Many experts have questioned the accuracy of such tests and they are not generally admissible as evidence in criminal trials. Advocates of the examinations say that even if the tests are not definitive, they are often a useful investigative tool.

In contrast to Shultz’s position, Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger has said he would undergo such examinations if asked by President Reagan.

Weinberger Open to Test

Pentagon spokesman Bob Sims said today that Weinberger would have no comment on Shultz’s statements. But on Dec. 11, in an interview with a television reporter, Weinberger was asked directly if he would submit to a lie-detector test.

“That wouldn’t bother me a bit,” he replied.

Meanwhile, the union that represents 13,000 foreign service officers and State Department workers also has registered “grave reservations” about the lie-detection order.

In a statement approved Wednesday, the American Foreign Service Assn. said polygraph tests are unreliable and could undermine the constitutional rights of people forced to take them.

Results Called Inaccurate

“The careers of public servants should not depend on the results of a machine that classifies one-third of all honest people as liars, but fails to reliably detect real liars,” the group said.

The statement pointed out that accused spy Larry Chin, a former employee of the CIA, passed numerous polygraph tests during the course of his career.

The AFSA statement said, “The polygraph will only be an electronic Maginot Line in the battle to protect our vital secrets”--a reference to supposedly impregnable French fortifications that failed to block the German advance in World War II.

It suggested that the government should instead use better and more frequent background checks as well as increasing the staffs in the various counterespionage offices in the U.S. government.