Undesirable candidate,

Your concerns are valid.  Unless you confessed or admitted wrongdoing, your letter has stated that "you were not within acceptable parameters."    The FBI has very carefully worded this letter so that they could not be challenged for accusing you of "deception." While everyone and their brother will assume you were deceptive (an inference that the FBI does not do anything to clarify or reject), you have not been judged in writting that you are untrustworthy.

I have had military clearances and currently Dept of Justice clearances which I was concerned about.  I was eventually offered a third polygraph and cleared my name (after many well thought letters of appeal and political chess playing).

It is personal to you and I but the FBI, CIA, NAS, and many government agencies consider it to be very acceptable to have false positives.  They are very aware of its shortcomings but it comes down to money issues.  They have a surplus of qualified candidates and if you read carefully on their webpages, they specifically state that the background check will not be done unless the polygraph is successfully passed.  This is a big catch-22 since you cannot demand they provide actual evidence of wrongdoing concerning being "unacceptalbe."  They save money and you are guilty without evidence that any court in the nation would demand.

If the polygraph were to become excessively expensive to perform, it would be eliminated tomorrow.  If the voice analysis methods become cheaper and easier to administer, regardless of any validity arguments, it will surpass and replace the polygraph.

Delay any letters to Congressmen and other officials outside the chain of FBI command until you exhaust your appeals.

Good Luck,

Fair Chance

Fair Chance

I have to disagree that the FBI letter was so carefully worded that it can't be challenged in court. My understanding is that there is only three determinations that can be made by the polygraph and two of them are bad. Doesn't an inconclusive indicate there is deception on at least one question? Not within acceptable parameters means, to me, not being totally truthful (total truth is a requirement proven be the poly only, right?)) which is accusing one of being a liar. According to all polygraphers, if you tell the truth, you pass. If you don't, you fail. I fail to see any wiggle room in that letter. If that letter was written to me, it would be hard to waite until I could get that polygrapher in the witness chair.

Marty

I think I understand what you are saying. However, getting down and dirty in a court of law, a definate line can be drawn between "passing" and "not passing". Inconclusive is not determined to be passing. So, from a legal point of view (down & dirty) it would have to be considered not passing which, to me, is saying "hey you lied just a little bit here".  Doesn't inconclusive mean there is a problem, maybe a little higher spike, on at least one of the relevant questions? 

I wouldn't let "being purposefully vague" fly in the courtroom. That vague letter can be torn apart.

It will be interesting to see how Mark Zaid attacks in the courtroom. Complaints, motions, etc., is just  the necessary means to get you in the courtroom. There is where a  lawyer's metal is tested. 

If one can't be totally truthful and pass a polygraph, then it's not worth the powder it would take to blow it to hell. I'll say it again. There is something drastically wrong with a procedure that allows one person to control another's ability to make a living in his chosen field.

Dear Undesirable Candidate,

A time line of up to two months waiting for a response during the holiday period is not unreasonable.  After two months, I would send another certified return receipt letter with a photocopy of my first one asking for its status.   If you get no response within three months, I would start going up the FBI chain of command one letter per month until you get some sort of response.  If you want to privately e-mail me a message as the information comes in I might be able to clarify exactly what I did and what you could do.

Dear Two-Block,
I always liked your style, you young hearted gold-digger.  The FBI does not send you a letter that you "officially passed."  The only confirmation that you "passed" the polygraph test is that your background check begins.

The FBI never states that you "failed".  They stop processing the "conditional job offer" upon the candidate "not being withing acceptable parameters".  They never state that you are untrustworthy or deceptive in writing.  I do not question your method of challenging the system, it was just not the method I used.

Marty,

Your observation, that the assumptions made during control questions are bogus, is accurate.  I tend to agree with your previous discussions that countermeasure responses in general are very repeatable.  This exactness causes suspicion (as if enough did not exist in the polygraph room already).   I only wish that they would stop the whole nonsense of "polygraph" usage in prescreening.  I feel the agencies involved only end up destroying some of their credibility with highly educated applicants.

Happy Holidays All.

I read the post by "undesirable candidate" and feel I am in exactly the same boat.  I recently underwent a poly for the FBI for an analyst position.  Here are some of the things that happened to me and some questions I have for you all.
Before I had even gotten comfortable in the chair, the examiner told me I get one chance and if I failed, I would no longer be considered for the position.  The situation was stressful for me already and having him say that made it even more stressful (if that was possible).

I then proceeded to answer all of his questions truthfully (I had no reason to lie to anything).  After three series of questions, he tells me I "failed" and would I like to continue by having him write out any statements.  I told him fine and proceeded to clarify the drug use (6 times total in my life with marijauna).  He then proceed to call me a drug dealer (which I denied), a drug user in the past 3 years (which I denied since the last time I had use was almost 7 years ago), and  that I might have been recruited by some foreign intelligence to infiltrate the FBI and get their secrets (which, of course, I denied).  I left there thinking that I would probably get a second chance with another tester but I got my form letter this last week telling me that the job was rescinded.
I have asked for an appeal but have not heard from the person who was my "Applicant Coordinator".  Last week, I got a call from someone else in the FBI wanting me to come in for an interview for another job.  I explained the situation to him and was told that he would find out about the appeal process for me and whether or not he can even interview me since I had "failed" the poly.

What I find funny about all of this is that I have a clearance pending with the CIA (the contractor I was going to work for ended up losing the contract before I was to start but I had finished the process).  During that process, I had "failed" my first poly and was asked to come back the next day, which I then passed.

Also, I know that the background check had started on me because at the PSI, the agent told me that there were already initials on parts of my application showing that they had checked those items off.  Also, my boss got a visit by an agent and the agent also interviewed four of my co-workers.

Why doesn't the FBI allow a second poly for those people who get so worked up and stressed that it must throw off any of the needles on their machine?  Also, it was stated that they do the polygraph first and then do the background check after a pass.  From my experience, that isn’t true.

Also, by failing this one poly, does that mean I can never be considered for an FBI position again?  I know for a fact that I have 6 applications that have gone past the initial phase and are now in the respective departments being reviewed.  I would hate to think that my only chance, ever, at getting a decent job doing some interesting and mind stimulating work (not to mention important to our country) would be stopped because of this one “fail” even though I have that clearance pending with the CIA.

Any and all information would be helpful.  Do I have any recourse at all or should I just throw up my hands and move on?  I am pretty upset about this.  Thank you all ahead of time for any assistance.

Without going into a lot of detail, I understand what you are going through and how you probably feel right now.  Many on this board do and many on this board will think of you as a melodramatic whiner.  Such is life.

To answer some of your questions, let me first start by saying that I only have experience with the Special Agent process but I believe policies regarding the FBI polygraph would be the same for SA and support positions.

With that in mind, I can tell you that the FBI does allow polygraph retests AT THEIR DISCRETION under certain circumstances.  Primarly, you are ineligble for a retest if you a)disclosed any information to the examiner AFTER your data gathering session (i.e. hooked to the machine) that had not already been disclosed and/or b)were found deceptive on relevant questions relating to national security issues.

If neither condition applies to you, a retest might be possible.  Call your applicant coordinator until you get him/her on the phone.  Indicate that you are disputing the results and you will be sending a letter to him/her.  In the letter, address the following items:  your examiner's name, examination date, position applied for, your background (summary of what you can bring to the FBI), problems on polygraph as mentioned by the examiner, any reasons you feel those problems existed (e.g. something on your mind, etc.), the fact that you did NOT disclose any previously undisclosed information and the fact that you want a retest.  Address the letter to the Applicant Coordinator and get it off as soon as possible.  Call to make sure he/she got it.  Call every two weeks or so to see where things stand.  The letter will be sent to HQ for a determination, you will then be interviewed by an agent to determine "sincerity" and best case scenario will face another polygraph.

It sounds like you may have been accused of deception relating to national security based on your description.  I can't say for sure that a retest is not possible but from what I understand, it may not be.  However, check and make sure that this was actually a question you indicated deception on; I have seen the polygrapher's statements on problems and the ACTUAL problem vary somewhat.

Hopefully your clarification of drug use did take place before your examination and you indicated after data gathering exactly (and only) what you indicated before data gathering.

Finally, as far as I know a polygraph failure will prevent you from reapplying for the FBI in the future and will not allow your other FBI position applications to be processed further.  I am truly sorry and I wish you the best.

Just to give an update.  The person who wanted to interview me but didn't know if he could because of my "failed" poly phoned back on Tuesday.  He told me I needed to write a letter to the Assistant Director of the division I had the job offer from.  In it, he said to state that I currently have the security clearance pending with the CIA and that during the testing process for that clearance, I had to take the exam twice due to the fact that I had "failed" the first time there.  He stated that it would be up to the division as to whether or not they wanted me to have the re-test and how much they want me to come work for them.

He said that he has seen people with similar circumstances end up with a favorable appeal but cautioned me me that anything can happen.  He also did state that he could not interview me due to the "fail" on the poly and wished me luck.

I have to say, I was impressed that he actually went out and got the information for me like that and I think he did some research because he knew who I needed to contact and what I needed to tell the people.

Anyways, thank you so much George and Anon for your posts.  I have the letter written but am fine tuning it so I can have the best shot possible.

Oh, and Anon, what I meant about ""interesting and mind stimulating work (not to mention important to our country)" is that I currently work for the government driving forklifts and cranes (with a PhD no less) and need something that is more stimulating than doing that.  It pays the bills but don't want to be stuck for the rest of my life doing it.  I don't want to give up the government benefits so I have avoided looking at the private sector.  Thanks again.