DHS Adds Question About “Unauthorized Communications with Media and Nonprofit Organizations” to Polygraph Screening Protocol

Ellen M. Gilmer reports for Bloomberg Government in a paywalled article. Excerpt:

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem warned employees that polygraph tests will be used to help crack down on leaks that agency officials say have foiled immigration enforcement plans.

Noem last week issued an internal directive that all polygraphs the Department of Homeland Security administers must include a question about unauthorized communications with media and nonprofit organizations, according to a memo described to Bloomberg Government by two people without authorization to speak publicly.

This policy appears to be similar that enacted in 2012 by then Director of National Security James Clapper, who announced that he was “mandating that a question related to unauthorized disclosure of classified information be added to the counterintelligence polygraph used by all intelligence agencies that administer the examination (CIA, DIA, DOE, FBI, NGA, NRO, and NSA).”

Clapper’s spokesman at the time told a reporter that “officials will be asked during the lie-detector tests whether they have disclosed classified information to members of the media.”

AntiPolygraph.org is aware of no instance where polygraph screening ever solved a leak investigation. We invite comment from anyone with knowledge of the polygraph policy changes at DHS. We can be reached privately and securely via Signal Private Messenger at ap_org.01 or via SimpleX.