Paper sleuths

We've been hearing from a lot of forensic document experts the past couple of weeks, because of the controversy surrounding the alleged Bush National Guard memos. The New York Times takes a closer look at this scientific specialty, which is common enough to have an official occupational description: questioned-document examiners.

Ordinarily, document examiners' cases are far more mundane than the CBS case. Examiners are hired by lawyers, police departments and individuals to analyze contested wills, determine whether medical or insurance records have been altered and authenticate handwriting and signatures in letters and contracts.

Document examination, like virtually every other line of work these days, has been fundamentally changed by computing. But many in the field say that digital technology has created nearly as many problems for them as it has solved. ... But document examiners have several counterweapons that can help detect sophisticated digital cut-and-paste forgeries.