Sheila Burt reports for the Daily Northwestern on the campus visit of two CIA recruiters, Marcus and Elizabeth, in an article titled, “CIA recruiters more Moneypenny than Bond.” Excerpt:
…applicants must go through a rather extensive interview process before becoming official CIA agents. The process includes a background check, a lie detector test and a medical exam.
Although Elizabeth assured the group that those who tell the truth have nothing to worry about, she offered some advice for the nervous.
“Some (prospects) get nervous about the polygraph so they smoke a joint the night before,” she said. “That’s not a good thing.”
Perhaps Elizabeth is not aware of the National Academy of Sciences report, The Polygraph and Lie Detection, that concluded polygraph screening is completely invalid? Or perhaps she is unaware of the experiences of people like “No Such Author,” “False +,” “Fnord,” and “A Disillusioned Polyglot?” Or perhaps she is unaware of the many CIA employees who have spent time in “polygraph limbo” — barred from doing meaningful work because their polygraph squiggles zigged when they should have zagged?
Or could it be that Elizabeth is well aware that the polygraph is highly unreliable and wrongly brands many truthful persons as liars, but that she deliberately misled her audience of wide-eyed students?
Elizabeth is right that it is “not a good thing” for nervous applicants to “smoke a joint” the night before a CIA polygraph. Instead, they should arm themselves with knowledge. Download The Lie Behind the Lie Detector for the truth about polygraphs that Elizabeth doesn’t want you to know.