It might well make sense for CIA case officers (especially those working abroad without diplomatic cover) to learn how to beat a polygraph "test." A policy of doing so poses a dilemma, however: the CIA's Office of Security relies on polygraphy to assess the credibility of the Agency's own employees. Even if polygraphy had some validity (it doesn't), using polygraph "tests" to assess the credibility of employees who have been taught to beat the box would make no sense.

Similarly, it might be useful for the CIA to teach the agents (spies) it recruits abroad how to beat a polygraph "test," in the event that they should one day be polygraphed by their own (foreign) governments. However, because the CIA likewise relies on polygraphy to assess the credibility of those very agents, teaching them how to beat the "test" would again be problematic.