Marko Hakamaa reports for SecurityClearanceJobsBlog.com in a post titled, “Polygraph Timelines Affected by DRP and Retirements.” Excerpt:
Previously, polygraphs were already the part of getting security clearance eligibility that took the longest with the Intelligence Community agencies. This was due to polygraph examiner shortages and scheduling backlogs which included having to test some individuals multiple times when the results were inconclusive or deception was found. Some applicants would wait from six months to a year to get theirs scheduled. Now, with the Deferred Resignation Program (DRP) and Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) offers from various IC agencies, the number of certified polygraphers has dropped by approximately 30%.
Read the rest of the article here.
In response to an inquiry by AntiPolygraph.org on the SecurityClearanceJobsBlog.com discussion forum, Hakamaa mentioned that his source is someone “from an intel agency who has visibility on the [Deferred Resignation Program] and hiring.”
It is not clear from what date the number of certified polygraphers is reportedly down approximately 30%, but the Deferred Resignation Program to which Hakamaa refers was instituted in January 2025.
A March 2025 publication of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency indicates (at p. 24) that there were almost 1,000 federal polygraph operators. If the approximately 30% drop to which Hakamaa refers applies to that figure, then nearly 300 polygraph operators may have recently left federal service.
The federal polygraph school, the National Center for Credibility Assessment, has long offered its basic polygraph course three times a year and trains about 100 polygraphers per year. At that rate, adding an additional 300 polygraphers to the federal workforce can be expected to take at least three years, considering attrition.
A good way for the federal government to address its current shortage of polygraph operators would be to terminate its reliance on the pseudoscience of polygraphy entirely. Doing so would strengthen national security and public safety while saving the considerable sums that are currently being wasted on this invalid procedure.
I have held two federal jobs, and the time from the initial application to starting work is very long. Having the polygraph clown show thrown into the mix to further delay important positions is detrimental to our national security. Remember how Aldrich Ames was cleared by a poly, only to go on spying for the USSR?
Maybe Daniel Ribacoff can fill in for the federal polygraphers. Some federal employees have have ringworm.
Another solution to the decrease in federal polygraphists: Perhaps we can start reading tea leaves, as they have roughly the same accuracy as polygraphs. We will, of course, need to find tea leaves that are tariff-free.