the same thing happened to me. my first test was inconclusive, i failed the second and the 3rd (appeal test) (just last week)

same questions-both drug questions depsite having no drug history.

i think its very difficult to pass a re-test simply because the anxiety attached to the questions in now greater. the "flight or fight" response is triggered by many things besides lying, but you cant tell a polygrapher that.

if you want a copy of my appeal letter, PM me. I did sucessfully appeal even tho i failed again. I took 4 polygraphs for the FBI (1 private) and never tried countermeasures but my thinking on that issue has changed. the polygraph is nothing more than a police interrogator trying to manipulate your emotional state to produce physiological reactions. the polygrapher assumes he is always successful in this regard and that if you peak on the relevants, the only reason must be deception. it does not cross his mind that the control questions may suck, or you get more antsy about being grilled by an FBI agent about drug peddling than you do about lying to your mother when you were 12 yrs old.

despite going into great detail about my knowledge of polygraph, I was never accused of countermeeasures and it was not mentioned in my reports which I got via FOIA request.

what was the wording of the statement that he wanted you to sign?

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To pm:  click pillpopper's name in the upper left of his post.  His user profile will appear.  Scroll down to where it shows pm this person (my wording is probably a little off).  Click the pm command and take off.

To check your messages:  At the top of the screen where it says Hey, FBI_SA_appl you have _ messages, click the _ messages portion.  

Hope that helps.

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From the tone of your post, it appears that you wisely did not fall for this ploy. When a polygraph operator requests that you make a written statement (especially one worded like you described), it’s not because he feels that things are inconclusive and he wants you to continue in the process with another operator. 

Instead, it is overwhelming likely that the examiner is planning to make a written report to disqualify you (for either deception or an arbitrary determination that you employed countermeasures). He is looking for a written confession to help solidify his case. You were smart not to give him one.

Nothing good that can come from making a written admission once a polygraph session has begun. NOTHING.

This is one of the most important pieces of advice that anyone facing a polygraph should know. Failing a polygraph “test” is extremely negative for one’s career potential in law enforcement. Still, having a failed polygraph on your record pales in comparison to having a folder sitting in FBI HQ file drawer with a signed statement from an FBI Special Agent stating that you admitted to him that you attempted to beat the pre-employment screening polygraph. Worse yet is when the above sheet of paper is immediately followed by a note in your handwriting admitting to the above.

It is our experience that applicants who fall for the polygrapher’s “I am here to help you get hired act—it is you and I against ‘headquarters’…” will sign almost anything after a reassuring statement informing the applicant that this is in his best interests. Regrettably, those who go along with this act are often caused irreparable damage.

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You may be granted a “retest,” but the chance of “passing” it is extremely slim. If a substantial number of people who receive second tests actually passed, it would be an implicit admission by the FBI that the whole process is a sham (which it is). Plus, the 2nd examiner would essentially be making the work of the first look bad.

The sad fact that is that retests (which it seems have been granted much more frequently in recent years) are a sham, set up to make it look like that the FBI has a legitimate redress policy (which it does not). What I can conclude—from the hundreds of people in your situation who have contacted us—is that virtually no one passes the retest.

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As a rule, FBI retests tend to be full-scope screening exams like the original, not specific issue "tests."

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As I said above, the bigger issue would be that in order to pass the second “test,” you must get one FBI examiner to essentially accuse another of being wrong. This is extremely unlikely, for obvious reasons.

As far as a retest request goes, this letter should be “short and sweet”—no extraneous details. Wait until you get the official results by mail before you do anything. Then, write a letter stating that you received notice that your results “were not within acceptable parameters” (or whatever BS jargon they are using these days), that you were fully truthful during the entire polygraph session, and that you respectfully request a re-test. Signed, your name.

Once again, no details.   

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Putting detail in an appeal letter probably won't affect your chances of a retest being granted. It may, however, affect your ability to litigate the matter at a later point if you should so choose. For this reason, I advise withholding detail.

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I respectfully disagree. Prior to the lawsuit being filed against the FBI by Mark Zaid, it appeared that retests were granted very rarely. One of the grounds advanced by the lawsuit is that the plaintiffs had virtually no appeal process available to them after they were disqualified. These retests appear to be an attempt to protect the FBI against future litigation. 

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I’m not being conspiratorial, just rational in light of the lawsuit against the FBI working its way through the federal courts. It makes sense for them to now have an appeal process. It does not, however, make sense for them to start overturning a large number of results. This is bad both on the institutional level (numerous divergent results would indicate that the whole process is a fraud—which it is) and on the individual level (it would require one examiner to conclude that the work of another is wrong).

It reeks less of conspiracy than of an agency trying to defend itself against litigation at all costs.

From what I've read and heard so far, I haven't come across a situation where an applicant passed the second time around.   

If anyone else has, please do tell!

FBI_SA_Appl:

Even if you produce a truthful chart, don't count on passing. You will be accused of using countermeasures to help you on the test and failed anyway even if there is no proof (ie. lack of your own admission.)  I think this would especially be the case in your situation since you have already been accused of trying to beat the first test. FBI polygraph examiners are threatened by this site and have become so paranoid that they think everyone knows about it and countermeasures. If you are granted a retest, your second poly examiner will have seen the first chart and report when he/she polygraphs you and will undoubtedly be looking for countermeasures, even if you don't use them. You will have to admit everything to the second examiner that you did to the first, including your research and knowledge of countermeasures. It's really a no win situation.   

I'll pose the question again---has anyone ever heard of an applicant passing a retest after having failed an FBI polygraph?

Don't feel bad, because the polygrapher at the FBI in Little Rock told me the after about 6 tests that I had not failed or passed.  He did a series of questions again, went out of the room, then came back in and said that he was going to fail me.  He kept telling me through the tests that I was having a reaction to a question, but wouldn't tell me which one.  At the end when he told me he was failing me, he told me is was on the question that he combined about the use or sale of illegal drugs.  I told him that I don't understand why he would get a reaction to that, that I was being truthful.

My opinion is that if you admit to ever doing anything,  even if it was once or 15 times, they're still going to hold it against you, even though it says on their website all the drug rules and that if you hadn't done it over so many times, you can still work for them.  I feel that if you just admit that you did anything at all, they're going to brand you as a druggie, and you're not going to get hired.  I think what all they say on their webpage is just an interragation tactic as well.  They want you to admit that you did something, just so they can weed out everyone that's tried some kind of drug.

They didn't say that I wouldn't get hired just because of failing that one question, and we continued the processing.  They said that it would be up to headquarters whether I would still be accepted or not.  They never said anything about an appeal either.  To tell you the truth, if I got a letter saying they were withdrawing my employment offer and that I could appeal the decision and ask to be retested, I don't think it's worth going through all of that again just to work for the FBI.  I'm an honest and loyal person, and I know and others know that I'm a good person, so too heck with the FBI for putting anyone that's honest through all that again.   I think the Polygraph is a bunch of bull.  I have never believed in them, and whoever invented it needs to be spanked.  It's utterly ridiculous.

So has anyone heard of someone failing one question on the polygraph with the FBI, and they still were hired?