Breeze and George,


wrote on Jan 3^rd, 2003 at 9:43pm:

Yes. I think it's likely that the high FBI special agent pre-employment polygraph failure rate (currently over 50%) is the result of a deliberate decision made by FBI management suddenly faced with a surfeit of qualified applicants following the tragic events of 11 September 2001. At some time prior to that date, the polygraph failure rate had "only" been about 20%.

A remarkable point of agreement. This apparently expedient mechansim has extremely adverse consequences. It is not a simple thing as where one isn't hired due to nebulous chemistry or instinct. If I interview 2 people and hire the one that I think best fits the needs of the dept., the emotional hurt to the one not hired is far less than if I polygraph the applicants and say the one not hired failed the polygraph.  There is little that causes more pain than having one's integrity questioned.  There is little that does more damage than promulgating that to other potential employment opportunities.

-Marty