I have served on oral boards for the agencies in which I have been employed and can honestly tell you that your best bet is to go out and buy some interview books that give you a variety of questions with answers that are better thought out and much more understandable.   

Practice in front of the mirror and go over questions in your head.  Amazingly many of the questions aren't really law enforcement related, but aimed more at determining your work ethic, practices, previous experiences and abilities to do the job. 

Go out, and spend some money on the books, read them, practice, practice and above all else tailor the answers to fit YOU!  Don't embelish and never allow yourself to be caught in a lie ( best way to do this is not to lie at all, you are trying out for LE and integrity is valued above all else) and never argue with your interviewers, this is a sure way to get scored real low.

Hi George - Thanks for the response.  When I said "interview" I meant the job interview.  I didn't think of the poly I took as an "interview" - they just sat me down in the chair, gave me a stern warning about trying to game the polygraph, lie, etc. and then we got down to it.  It wasn't so bad.  I am more worried about choking during the personal interview.

Regads

Clouseau

As Mr. Stromberg correctly noted, your current security clearance will not carry over to the FBI, which conducts full scope background investigations.

The fact that you (presumably) have a TS/SCI clearance and have previously passed a polygraph examination may well help in the FBI application process. However, you should be aware that the Bureau has a polygraph failure rate on the order of 50% (among the highest in the federal government), and your current trusted status is no guarantee against a false positive outcome. You would do well to peruse The Lie Behind the Lie Detector, the DoDPI Pre-Employment Polygraph Test document, and the DoDPI Interview & Interrogation handbook. You might also wish to carefully consider whether for you, the risk of a false positive is one worth taking. (See my article, "Just Say 'No' to FBI Polygraphs.")

As for pointers on the interview, the "behavioral countermeasures" outlined in Chapter 4 of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector may help to avoid using the wrong body language.

On a final note, I don't necessarily agree with Mr. Stromberg that public employees should quit their jobs rather than submit to polygraph screening examinations (which I would not necessarily characterize as psychological torture, either, though in some cases, such as that of Navy cryptanalyst Daniel M. King, they have been). Moreover, while there may be other aspects of government hiring practices that are in need of reform, AntiPolygraph.org is primarily concerned with polygraphy and other purported forms of lie detection.

Inspector:

You clearance does not carry over.  The FBI will conduct a full background and full scope polygraph examination including the DRUG/THEFT and SERIOUS CRIME questions!!! It does not matter if you have been a loyal employee for 20 years.   As George points out in his book, the government uses polygraphs to intimidate, threaten and manipulate people.  To think that you could pass a polygraph is just plain wrong.  Just forget it and stay where you are.  Also, if they ask you to take another polygraph at your current agency, we suggest that you refuse to submit to such psychological torture, quit your job, and join in the fight to stop polygraph, CVSA, urinalysis, psychological testing, interviews and other methods of keeping us from the government jobs.

Hi - Currently working one of the national agencies that required the full-scope poly.  Have an interview soon with the FBI for a field analyst position.  As I have been in the game for a long time and actually passed the national intel agency poly (the hard one) and got a clearance, I am not really dreading the test.  I would like to know, if anyone can tell me.

A - Would my current NSA/CIA clearance carry over?

B - Is the background investigation single scope, CI-scope, or full scope?

C - Since I really want this job (dying to get back into law enforcement work!), I don't want to come across like a total loser in the interview.  Any pointers?   What might they ask?

Thanks to all, especially George, who answers questions faster than no man

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