Mr. Smith,
You write:
Quote:1. I blame the existence of "countermeasures" for giving my examiner a reason to be suspicious. Maybe if they didn't exist I would have been given the benefit of the doubt. I have yet to read the "Lie Behind the Lie Detector", but it's existence might put examiners on a hair trigger.
Of course, if polygraph countermeasures did not exist, it stands to reason that your polygrapher would not have accused you of attempting to beat the polygraph. But countermeasures "exist" -- or are possible -- because of the inherent weaknesses of polygraphy, which I think you'll understand after reading through Chapter 3 of
The Lie Behind the Lie Detector. The existence of
The Lie Behind the Lie Detector may well have put some polygraph examiners "on a hair trigger," as you put it. The establishment of AntiPolygraph.org in September 2000, and our making detailed countermeasure information freely available, has helped to make countermeasures a hot issue in the polygraph community. The topic of countermeasures, which was once largely ignored, is now a recurring theme on the seminar agendas of most polygraph associations.
But it would be wrong to equate the existence of
The Lie Behind the Lie Detector with the existence of countermeasures. Gino Scalabrini and I did not invent the countermeasures we've described in the book. They're based on unclassified, open sources for which we've provided citations. Moreover, accusations of attempted polygraph countermeasures were not uncommon well before the advent of AntiPolygraph.org. One of the most common accusations was of "controlled breathing" (especially breathing "too slowly").
Quote:2. I blame the system. One reason I want to work for the FBI is their reputation as an organization dedicated to justice and the principles of the best legal system in the world. Yet so far this polygraph process seems arbitrary, vindictive, and lacking in transparency or appeal procedures. Due process is not just a concept for selective application. It is an idea that is (or should be) universal, and it's a slippery slope once it is denied to citizens.
The system is indeed broken, and we're trying to fix it through the passage of a
Comprehensive Employee Polygraph Protection Act that would completely eliminate polygraphy (and other pseudoscientific forms of "lie detection") from the American workplace. You'll find documentation of some of the harm that a misplaced institutional faith in polygraphy has caused to both individuals and to our national security in Chapter 2 of
The Lie Behind the Lie Detector. I would like to think that your faith in the FBI to revisit your case is not misplaced. But past experience provides little ground for confidence. Nonetheless, it is important to exhaust all administrative avenues of appeal that may be available.