Accused of FBI Pre-Employment Polygraph Countermeasures: Please pardon my lengthy post. Although I made every attempt to keep this as short as possible; it still turned out to be book. Short of leaving out important aspects of the experience and process, I included what I thought should be told. My story: The following is a true story (my personal experience) of how the FBI went to great lengths to seek me out, recruit me; only to be failed by the system itself, not the polygraph machine. I can only hope this travesty does not happen to anyone else; but regrettably, until we can put a stop to pre-employment polygraph screening it most certainly will. I hope my personal experience will be testimony for others to "beware" of a failed system. It can and will happen to you, as well as many inocent others. This is a true injustice. The FBI recruited me back in December 2001. I promptly completed the application process (FD-140) and submitted my package within a couple of weeks. On 7/1/02, I received an official letter "conditional appointment" informing me that I had been selected for the position previously applied for. From that point, things moved very quickly. I was almost immediately scheduled for my medical exam, physical fitness test, fingerprinting, drug test, polygraph and background investigation. Due to the nature of my present job; I currently have a DoD (Red Badge) TS/SAR/4, DISCO/DSS issued Security Clearance with Nuclear Weapons Generation Area access, w/escort authorization. With that being said, I simply assumed the background investigation would be nothing much more than formality, wrong! Following the drug test and finger printing process, I was then scheduled for my polygraph exam. The polygrapher administering my exam was known as “an old hat”, meaning that he had been around the bureau for a long time. The polygrapher knew that the bureau was aggressively recruiting me. I was not your typical applicant hoping for a job with the FBI. I already knew exactly which field office I would be assigned, knew exactly what I was going to be doing, and knew actually "why" they were recruiting me. I tell you all this because I was naive enough to believe it all meant something. Didn't mean squat! Once we started the first poly, the polygrapher did not administer any “stem-test”. He quickly reviewed the questions that he was going to ask; and he further remarked that this would be very quick, and very easy. The polygraph exam itself was a very simple “CQT” question test. He asked me three (3) sets of questions on two (2) different series of questions. One set of questions was about drug use, stealing, etc., and the second set of questions was regarding being a spy, selling secrets, etc. Keep in mind that both sets of questions was blatantly obvious CQT in nature. Again, he asked me the same 10 – 12 questions three times in a mixed random order. At the end of the test, he told me that he did not see any problems anywhere in either set of questions. He ran six (6) charts total on me. There was no “post-test” interrogation, and he (polygrapher) quickly told me that I did fine. He then walked me back to my applicant processor's desk, and informed him/her that I did fine. He openly gave them all a “thumbs-up”, and remarked to everyone in the room that I did fine, no problems noted. He then turned to me and told me; “I’m not suppose to tell you this, but you did perfectly fine”, no problems on either set of charts. However, he further informed me “the charts had to be sent to the DC lab for a final QC check”. Then he said, “this is just a formality”, and “not to worry, you passed”. I left on a natural high. Knowing that I was merely a couple of weeks from receiving an official start date. For all practical purposes, I was an employee with the FBI. I couldn’t wait to get home and tell my wife that I had completed my FBI applicant process, and would soon be starting to work for the bureau. I even called the FBI field office that was recruiting me and told them that I had taken and passed the poly. They were all very happy, and all of the SA's congratulated me. I was finally in; or at least, so I thought! Later in the following week, I received a phone call from the FBI field office applicant coordinator, informing me that my polygraph result had came back from the DC lab as “inconclusive”. I was then told the FBI wanted to re-test me. When I questioned as to why the inconclusive result, I was told not to worry. I was told the problem seemed to be some type of "glitch" with the polygraph machine. I was told that this time there would be a different polygrapher to administer the exam. I thought nothing further of it, and confirmed I would return for the re-test. The second test was then scheduled for the following week. (Approximately one week between the first and second polygraph exam) Upon reporting for the re-test, I was again greeted by the "same" polygrapher, thinking I was going to have a different polygraphist. However, this time, he was not such a nice guy. I could immediately tell something was not right. He made no effort to shake my hand as before, and did not entertain any “chit-chat”. He also acted as though he was very angry and upset about having to administer a re-test. I could sense something was seriously wrong. Immediately upon entering the polygraph examination room, he informed me the reason for my re-test was due to the Washington DC unit “suspecting” countermeasures on the first polygraph test. He told me, and this is a quote; “you did too good to be true" on the first test. He then launched into this accusatory speech about countermeasures. He was relentless and insisting that I tell him what I had read, bought, and/or who had coached me on polygraph countermeasures. I steadfastly held to my denials, and admitted to nothing. He then instructed me to write a statement explaining that I had not used any polygraph countermeasures. After I wrote the statement, he then began the pre-test interview, and reviewed the questions he would be asking me on the 2nd test. This time, he repeated the exact same two (2) question series as before, except that ALL “CQT” questions had been obviously removed. There were absolutely no control questions at all, this time the question's were all relevant/irrelevant. Also, he asked me the same questions three (3) times in random order on each chart. The big difference this time was the addition of an entire set of 10/12 questions on countermeasures. The first two sets of questions were exactly the same questions as I was asked on the first polygraph exam; with the exception of the removal of all CQT questions. On the third set of countermeasure questions, he asked me another 10/12 relevant/irrelevant questions strictly related to the use of countermeasures. All throughout the countermeasure questions, he would ask me what was I thinking about on that particular question, this was obviously a ploy to make me nervous, as I was thinking nothing about the question. He would also tell me (during the “in-test” phase) that something obviously bothered me on certain countermeasure questions. Again, this was his ploy to make me think I was responding to certain questions he was asking me. Following the third series of questions, (the countermeasure questions) I was subjected to a very hostile “post-test” interrogation where I was accused of lying on the 2nd test. He also accused me of employing countermeasures on the first polygraph exam. He even tore the chart from the polygraph machine and confronted me with the charts. My response was; if you can see all these obvious signs of deception and countermeasures on this test, then why didn’t you detect them on the first polygraph? I asked him why it took the FBI DC polygraph unit to recognize and point-out any “suspected” countermeasures used during my first test? Of course, he had no good response to my question. He then left the examination room for about 45 minutes to fax my charts to DC, and left me in the room alone to contemplate my fate. When he returned, he continued to interrogate me about the use of countermeasures, and I persistently stuck to my denials. At the conclusion of the interrogation, he told me I had failed the second polygraph test on the countermeasure questions only. And also, he told me the only way he “could help me” was for me to admit to him what I had read, or who had coached me on how to use countermeasures. I did not admit to anything unethical, and/or to the use of any polygraph countermeasures during the first test, or the second test. The funny thing about my entire FBI pre-employment polygraph experience is: although I was “suspected” of using countermeasures, the polygrapher or the DC unit never could or would tell me precisely what method of countermeasures they suspected me of employing. In fact, the polygrapher initially told me that I had passed the first polygraph. Meaning, he did not see or detect any signs of deception and/or countermeasures. Although the DC unit suspected that I had used countermeasures, I still passed the polygraph exam itself. In fact, the polygrapher personally told me that I “did too good to be true”. My response to this; have you stopped for a second to consider, I was simply telling the truth? He then replied; “no one does that good”. I was recently told by a “FBI source” that works in/around the Washington DC polygraph unit that I clearly passed both polygraph exams; although, they told me that I had failed. The reason they failed me was due to their “suspicion” of countermeasure use, "not actual proof". Although there is not a single thread of evidence that I used polygraph countermeasures, they can still “deem” the final results as “not within acceptable parameters” if they do not believe the actual charts of their own polygraph instrument. Just recently, I was again told that I actually passed both polygraph exams with an excellent score. Although, DC steadfastly holds to their suspicion that I employed polygraph countermeasures, they actually failed me due to nothing more than mere suspicion. I later received another letter telling me that my polygraph results were “not within acceptable parameters”, and thus, I was disqualified from further consideration for FBI employment. As of this posting, (10/16/02) the status of my "failed" polygraph results, and rejected FBI application are under protest. I have written several Senators, Congressmen, sent a letter of protest to the Director of the FBI; and filed a FOIA requesting any/all related information with regard to my two-polygraph test's. There are certain aspects of my personal experience that I cannot openly discuss here on this website or message board. However, at such a time when I can openly discuss all sensitive aspects of my experience, I will share all details openly on this message board. For obvious reasons, I cannot identify the actual field office, polygrapher that tested me, or my real name. This bad experience could potentially compromise my current career, as I have now been accused of using polygraph countermeasures. That's not something anyone would want to flaunt to his or her current employer. Thanks FBI, what an incentive... recruit me, then accuse me of countermeasures, then throw me back to the wolves... This goes to show that there is no “sure method” of detecting what is, and what is not, polygraph countermeasures. They (the FBI) never even slightly attempted to hint at what they thought I might have done to “beat the polygraph”. You would think they could at least say; AH HA!!!!! Right there… “Pointing at the polygraph charts”… you squeezed your anal sphincter right there… see it… But not so! If you are simply “suspected” of employing polygraph countermeasures, even if they cannot prove their suspicions, they will rule your polygraph results as “not within acceptable parameters”, and that’s the end of your FBI application process. Case closed… end of story. I will continue to post any additional news as it relates to my personal experience. Good luck to all. Respectfully, Triple x
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