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I am a 23 year-old male college student. I’m born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. As many of you probably know, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as LDS or Mormon) is the predominant religion in Utah and one that I am proud to be associated with. Anyway, many young men in the LDS church serve as missionaries for 2 years. I chose to do so and lived in South Korea for 2 years where I had the opportunity to learn the Korean language. After my return, I continued my Korean studies. I was also pursuing a double major in Mass Communication and International studies. After finishing my Korean class one day, I went into the hall and saw a poster saying something to the effect of “Join the FBI.” I checked out their website and saw that Korean was a language they’d be interested in.
I looked into being a linguist. I took the test at the FBI office and didn’t pass. In order to get my Korean up to par, I decided to spend a semester abroad as an exchange student (through the University of Utah) at a college in South Korea. In the meantime, I had applied and been accepted for the volunteer internship program in Quantico, VA, pending a polygraph and background investigation. The internship was to be with the Practical Applications Unit. On the day I received my acceptance letter I was ecstatic.
After filling out some paperwork and taking a drug test at the SLC FBI office, I was told that I’d have a polygraph test before long. The person I talked with at the SLC FBI office told me that it would be better to do no research on polygraph testing before I had the actual test, so I didn’t research more than the little I already knew.
The day of the Polygraph came. I happily took the day off work to take the test. The polygrapher was very friendly when we first met. His demeanor would soon change.
After the first set of questions, he sits down in front of me and accursedly asks, “Are you doin’ countermeasures on me?” I told him that I didn’t even know what countermeasures were (I didn’t at that time). He continued to badger me that I was “doin’ something.”
The test progressed for 2 hours. He told me that there were a few questions I was having trouble with. I figured it must be because the questions were so ambiguous, such as “Have you ever told a deep, dark lie?” or “Have you ever betrayed someone you love?” He was convinced I was lying to him. I explained that the questions were ambiguous and we went though and reworded the questions. I don’t know if this helped, but it seemed to as the test continued long after that. At one point, he said that the machine indicated that I had had contact with foreign intelligence persons. He admitted that he didn’t think that was accurate! He said I was too young to have even of had that kind of opportunity.
As the test wrapped up, he continued by saying “I am a great judge of character. You seem like a good egg to me, but there’s something you aren’t telling me. I don’t know what it is, but there is something.” When I insisted there wasn’t anything, he very curtly escorted me out of his office without so much as a handshake. I thought my chances were gone.
5 months later (after my return from my semester abroad), I got a phone call from the same polygrapher saying he’d like to schedule another test. I had debated whether or not I wanted to do the test again (because I knew what to expect this time) but I really wanted to do this internship.
The polygrapher was very friendly on the phone. When we met again in the SLC FBI office, he was still friendly. He told me that during our last interview, the question I had the most problem with was drugs. Drugs?! I couldn’t believe it. One of the few questions I could answer without ambiguity in my mind! I’m a Mormon! (Not that Mormons are immune to the effects of drugs) I’m a poster American kid. I have no police record – I’ve never even gotten a speeding ticket. I’ve never even gone to a party where drugs were used. My friends don’t use drugs. Crap, I think I’ve only seen people using maybe once or twice in the city Park.
Anyway, I explained this to the polygrapher, but he didn’t believe me. He was convinced of the accuracy of his test. But contrary to our first interview, he was very kind and sincere this time. I honestly felt like he wanted to help me pass the test. Well actually, he wanted me to admit to using drugs. “We’re all young and stupid once,” he said. “A lot of people in this office have used. You just can’t have done anything in the last three years.” I continued to tell him the truth that I had never been close to drugs, let alone use or sell them.
He told me that I would make a great FBI agent. “America is in trouble. They need people like you. You have a great opportunity in front of you. Don’t lose it by holding on to this lie.” I almost wished I had of had something to tell him about. He made it sound so easy to get rid of. “If you’ve used, we just do an addendum and that’s that.” But if I had used, that means I would have been lying up to that point! How could they possibly hire someone who had blatantly been lying?!
I told the polygrapher that there was no ambiguity in my mind about drug use. He replied, “I agree with you there. There’s no ambiguity.” Evidently, I scored a -5 on that question (on a scale from -5 to +6). I continued to say I don’t know why. I asked him about one of the more basic questions, “Do you intend to lie to me today?” He said that I had scored a 0 on that question, meaning, “Ideally, you’re in the positives, +4 to +6. A score in the negatives means you’re planning on lying to me. A zero means I better be paying attention because you’re thinking about lying to me.” That coupled with a -2 on the truthfulness of my FBI application cemented in this polygrapher’s head that I was trying to hide some kind of drug use. “Here’s what I think,” he said. “Some time in high school, you’re at a party, a friend offers you a joint, and you take a hit.” I denied the allegation to no avail.
I reminded the polygrapher that I had told him I was not going to lie to him today. I would not admit to something I didn’t do. He told me that if I didn’t admit to it, the door on my FBI future would be shut FOREVER. I told him I really wish that wouldn’t happen, but it looks like I don’t stand a chance. He thanked me, walked me out of the office and cordially told me to “take care.”
As disappointing as it was to know that the FBI was now closed to me, I felt good. I could hold my head high. I had stuck to my guns and told the truth. Someday, I’m going to prove to that polygrapher that I was telling the truth!
The most amazing thing in this whole ordeal was that this was for an UNPAID internship! I was sacrificing time and money so that I could get my foot in the door. Not to toot my own horn, but I’m an intelligent, law-abiding through and through American. I would have loved to have served my country in this capacity. Now that my FBI options are shot, I must figure out what to do next.
At any rate, I am glad to see I am not alone in this. I intend to write my Senator, Orin Hatch, but between the bureaucracy and the apathy in politicians, I do not expect much of a result. If everybody does this, perhaps we can someday make a difference.
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Polygraph cost me my internship (Read 40026 times)
