GoodNurse wrote on Mar 1
st, 2005 at 4:39am:
1) Can anyone who has taken NSA's poly very recently re-confirm that they are still doing R/I? (in addition to being shaken up, my friend is taking the whole thing really seriously and won't say)
NSA has been using the R/I technique as its primary one for more than 50 years. AntiPolygraph.org has received no information indicating any recent change.
Quote:2) Can those who have both passed NSA's poly, as well as those experts like George, skeptic, and others, please clearly state whether or not to make any admissions? (see my personal "bio" below) There is some ambiguity in various threads about this.
While I think that applicants for positions that require polygraph screening have an ethical obligation to answer relevant questions truthfully, there is no obligation to provide a laundry list of everything one has ever done that may be a source of embarrassment, shame, or regret.
No matter how truthfully you initially answer questions, you can expect to be accused of at least "having problems," if not outright lying, and to be pressed for admissions. It may thus be helpful to have some pre-planned explanation for why you might have reacted to any question. One should be careful not to say anything that could be twisted into a damaging admission. See pp. 152-54 of the 3rd edition of
The Lie Behind the Lie Detector for more in this regard.
Quote:3) If the answer to question 2 is any sort of yes, please suggest when and to what.
Please see the reference cited above.
Quote:4) Without control ?'s to look for, how/when specifically should any CM's be employed?
Countermeasures to the R/I technique are briefly discussed at p. 152 of the 3rd edition of
The Lie Behind the Lie Detector. The purpose of applying countermeasures by augmenting reactions to a different pair of relevant questions during each question series is to prevent reactions to any one relevant question from standing out in relation to the others. As you will recall, the R/I technique is scored by looking for consistent, specific, and significant ("con-spec-nificant") reactions to a particular relevant question.
It may also be beneficial to augment reactions to any announcement of the beginning and/or end of the examination, as these may be used as a kind of "control" stimulus.
I think that in the R/I technique, behavioral countermeasures (appearing honest) and having a plausible, non-damaging explanation for any alleged "reactions" are probably more important than physical countermeasures.
Quote:5) Has anyone heard of, or had experience with, probing personal (i.e. sexual, etc) questions during NSA's poly?
One NSA applicant reports having been pressed to admit to being a homosexual. See the statement of
"NSA Reject".