Hello again,
   Well, it's official. I just received my BQA (better qualified applicant) letter from the U.S.S.S terminating my conditional offer of employment. It's kind of ironic how they state that "..selected a better qualified applicant, whose particular qualifications met our current needs." When I went for my interview they stated I was more than qualified for the position!
   Oh well, I guess things worked out for the best anyway. I'm still currently a Police Officer and I'm kind of glad that I didn't pack up and move away from my friends and family. I do however wish to clear my good name and have taken the advise of the administrators of this site and contacted the attorney (Mark Zaid) about joining the pending federal lawsuit.
    I'll keep you posted as things progress, right now I'm just trying to get through this damn terrible allergy season! 
 

Jane,

It is admirable that you are not looking to profit financially from a lawsuit against the Secret Service after what they put you through.  Nonetheless, there are several other factors you may wish to consider before eschewing participation in the case.

The primary goal of Mark Zaid‘s lawsuit is to clear the good names of those who have been falsely accused on the basis of polygraph testing alone.  It is likely that the USSS has entered your name and these polygraph accusations into a non-criminal records database.  Furthermore, it is possible that the USSS shares information from this database with other agencies.  The main goal of the lawsuit is to force the USSS and other agencies to purge the blacklists they have created, and re-instate the applications of those who have been rejected.  

I can also understand why you may not wish to pursue employment with the USSS even if your application is reinstated.  I assume you may be concerned about how progress in your career with the Secret Service may be jeopardized if you are hired only after a lawsuit.  Furthermore, you just may not wish to work for the agency after the repugnant conduct it treated you with.  Still, it will be to your advantage to have your name cleared and USSS files reflect that the reason you were not hired is because you voluntarily removed yourself from the hiring process.

Perhaps most importantly, your participation in a successful lawsuit would help protect others from having to face the abuse you endured.  The complaint also includes in its goals the removal of the pre-employment polygraph from the USSS hiring process.  As someone who has already had chosen a public service career path (military, corrections, police), I’m sure you have an appreciation for protecting the rights of others.  Mark Zaid testified before the Senate Judiciary committee last week that the USSS is the agency he has received the most complaints about.  Considering the small size of the Secret Service as compared to the other agencies named in the suit (FBI, etc), this is exceptionally alarming. 
  
If the lawsuit is successful, and you win a financial settlement, you can always donate the money you have left over after you pay your legal expenses to a charity.  Perhaps as a former police officer, you may wish to give it to an organization that helps the families of fallen officers.  In any case, there are many possible benefits to joining the lawsuit besides the possibility of winning a financial settlement.

This is just some stuff to think about.  Thanks for sharing your story.

Best,

Jane _Doe,

Sorry to hear about your experience, but frankly, I think joining the lawsuit would be best for you. You lost out on a job based on the “sole” results of  a ‘pseudo-science’ machine.  Nothing more or nothing else!    We all realize we don’t want to sue just to get a job, but the real world facts are that you were found guilty and the only recourse is through the courts. Nothing was ever solved on a compute message board or in the papers.  The courts are the ONLY way to solve an injustice, be it equal-opportunity, discrimination, etc.   Your pride,  if anything, is at stake!  Don’t let those bastards ( yes, bastards!) win.  We don’t want money, we just want a chance to serve our country, plain and simple.  Understand that there are many agents who NEVER had to submit to this ‘pseudo-science’ and they serve on a daily basis in every federal L.E. agency out there!  Some of the applicant coordinators, and most of the upper management  have NEVER had to be even submitted to the injustice of the ploy, yet they judge all applicants based solely on the results.   Their integrity was never questioned, but yours was!  I would fight that in court anytime!!!

Please understand that until we have a large number of complainants in the lawsuit, the suit won’t be taken seriously.  The courts won’t know the extent of the problems with this machine, and how much it is ruining people’s lives.  I understand you not wanting to sue, but understand until we all stand up and fight for injustice, it will continue unimpeded!  And that is exactly what polyographers are banking on.  They say  ‘see my machine worked!”, - after all who would just go away if they were truly innocent!  Innocent people stand up and fight for their rights-the right to AT LEAST clear their name!  If only for the principle of the thing!!

Just my thoughts!

   I'll first start out with a very brief Bio. of myself just so you don't think I'm some Joe Sh@t the ragbag that applied to the Secret Service and was weeded out as an unfit applicant.
   I served 6 years in the U.S Military in an elite unit and served in actual combat during 2 conflicts. After my military service I went to college for awhile but decided to seek a career in Law Enforcement. I started out in Corrections, then became a Police Officer in a somewhat busy city. I have been in Law Enforcement going on 8 years now and decided that I would like an opportunity to serve my country again and apply for what I thought was the pinnacle of Federal Law Enforcement - the U.S. Secret Service.
    I applied for a position that not too many people are familiar with, called a "Special Officer" which is pretty much doing protection work for former Presidents and other misc. duties. I applied for a specific post with a former President that I had the greatest respect for, I thought this was my "DREAM JOB". I was selected for an interview at the location of the job site and passed that with no problems, though they were concerned with me taking such a big pay cut from my current job. I then went through the other routine hiring proceedures such as medical,drug screening, security interview and then the polygraph. 
    My first polygraph lasted 4 hours, they said I was having problems in the National Security area. After that they said I was having problems in the honesty and integrity area. My first polygraph examiner was very polite,but a real fast talker and seemed to be giving off a "I'm better than you" vibe. At the end of the 4 hours he finally said I passed the polygraph and he would send the results to H.Q.
    I heard nothing from them for about a month. Then one day I get a phone call saying "Bad news, H.Q. reviewed your poly and would like you to come back in for another one to clear up some issues."
    Poly #2 was conducted much as the same as the first but this time the examiner seemed more straight laced and no-nonsense. He said I was having problems in the "serious crimes" area. We went through 2 tests and still the same "inconclusive" results. He then started to make all of these allegations that I was probably raping women or demanding sex from women during patrol stops and also accused me of stealing property from prisoners. I was outraged and I told him how I felt. He said "Good, I was trying to get you mad so you can pass this next exam." Of course the next exam was the same result and he said he couldn't test me past 5 hours. So he offered to schedule me with another examiner at another date.
     Exam #3 was with a younger agent than me with an older more serious agent assisting him. He gave me the same old nonsense of just admitting to some crime so I can get passed this time around. I told them the same thing I told the other 2 examiners, I shoplifted once when I was 9 years old. That's it....nothing else ever. I went through 2 times with him with the same "inconclusive" results. This time they came into the room after my second test and stated "We know you're lying!" With that I stood up 
and said I was sorry they felt that way and walked out the door.
    That's it......I never heard from anyone in the U.S. Secret Service since that day. I know now that I don't want to work for an organization that treats prospective employees with no regard what so ever to human decency. If they are going to accuse someone of a serious crime without any type of follow up investigation or even a basic backround check then who knows what else they would do to you as an employee. I can't believe that they would just throw someone away over the results of some garbage unscientific test as the polygraph. 
    I could join the Law Suit that is currently against Federal L.E. agencies, but I'm not looking to sue to get a job and I'm not the type to sue for money either. Prior to my experience I really had no opinion to the Polygraph and probably thought it worked. Now I Know for a fact it doesn't. The only satisfaction that I have is knowing in my own true heart that I NEVER comitted any serious crime (or any crime for that matter)! This whole experience is something that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy!