I am with a private firm, a new position requires poly. If I have an unsatisfactory on my poly do I loose all my clearances or just the poly part and not get the job? If I loose all the clearances can my company terminate me even if it is private and has other positions within the company that do not require clearance? And further more does it end up in my records somewhere (i.e. credit report, police report) and reduce my chances of obtaining other jobs?

Hard Worker,

I think more specifics would be required to answer your question.  Are you an employee of a private firm that holds sensitive government contracts?  A clearance with whom?

Ulitimately, if you have done nothing to jeopardize your clearance, you should have nothing to worry about, either from the polygraph or otherwise.  I would caution you in seeking assistance from this site, as, in my opinion, it may be a detriment to you. 

Surely, my appearance on this thread will bring replies to the thread, but I might caution you, it will likely be in response to my advice, not necessarily to assist you.  Whether it is an attack on my assertions, or some well meaning (but inadvertently misleading) advice to you, will depend on which contributor responds.   I'll apologize ahead of time if your thread turns into irrelevant banter.  However, if Drew or George appear on this thread, you can bet they will have well researched citings of law.  Just may want to filter out the advice on the approach to the exam.

Hard Worker,

I don't know whether failing a polygraph examination (let's suppose it's required for a top secret clearance with SCI access) might result in revocation of any lower level clearance (for example, secret collateral) that you may hold. Federal agencies have wide discretion in making security clearance determinations, and they do take polygraph results into account.

If you lose your security clearance, yes, your private employer may terminate your employment, assuming the clearance is a requirement for your current job. Failing the polygraph could make it harder to find employment elsewhere in positions that require a security clearance. To the best of my knowledge, the fact that you failed a polygraph would not appear in your credit reports (because it has nothing to do with your credit rating, and would, in fact, be information protected from public release under the Privacy Act).

Your safest bet would be to refuse the polygraph and remain in your current position.

If the agency that requires the polygraph is the Department of Defense, however, you should know that almost everyone ultimately passes (if not the first time, then on a "re-test") their DoD counterintelligence-scope polygraph examinations. In fiscal years 2000 and 2001, the only persons who failed to pass were those who made what DoD terms "substantive admissions." Thus, the key to passing the DoD polygraph is simply to avoid making any such admissions. (Other agencies, like the CIA and FBI, are not so easygoing, however.)

Another point to consider, if the agency involved is the Department of Defense, is that you have the right to appeal any decision to revoke or deny a clearance at a hearing before an administrative judge of the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals.

Before you agree to sit for any polygraph examination, I suggest, as Beech Trees recommended, that you download and read The Lie Behind the Lie Detector.