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I have a writing error?

And you're a full-time college student? You must have a wealth of life experience and wisdom to share. Please do.

Aldrich Ames.

Google him.  One of the greatest traitors this country has ever seen, and he sailed through every poly.  How can that be? [/quote]

He was called truthful by the examiner, look at the explanation he was actually deceptive:

"In 1986 and 1991, Ames passed two polygraph examinations while spying for the Soviet Union and Russia, respectively. Ames was initially "terrified" at the prospect of taking the test, but he was advised by the KGB "to just relax." Ames's test demonstrated deceptive answers to some questions but the examiners passed him, perhaps in the later opinion of the CIA because the examiners were "overly friendly" and therefore did not induce the proper physiological response."

George,

Further research revealed the following:


An Assessment of the Aldrich H. Ames Espionage Case and Its Implications for U.S. Intelligence
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence 01 November 1994 Part One
Full text of both parts and appendices can be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington D. C. 20402. Phone (202) 512-1800 (Stock Number 052- 070-069-77-5). The cost is $5.00.

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1986 Polygraph Examination:
At the conclusion of language training and prior to departing for Rome, Ames was required to take a routine polygraph examination on May 2, 1986. This was his first polygraph since 1976. Ames would subsequently state that he might not have made the decision to commit espionage in April of 1985 if he had known that he was going to be polygraphed the next year. Ames recalls being "very anxious and tremendously worried" when he was in formed that he was scheduled for a polygraph exam in May of 1986, one year after he had begun his espionage activity for the KGB.
Ames was tested on a series of issues having to do with unauthorized contacts with a foreign intelligence service, unauthorized disclosure of classified information, and financial irresponsibility.
Ames gave consistently deceptive responses to issues related to whether he had been "pitched" (i.e. asked to work for) by a foreign intelligence service. The CIA examiner noted Ames's reaction to the "pitch" issue but apparently detected no reaction to the other counterintelligence issues covered by the test. When Ames was asked about his reaction during the session, he explained that he was indeed sensitive to the "pitch" issue because, he stated, "we know that the Soviets are out there somewhere, and we are worried about that."
Next the CIA examiner asked a follow on series of questions relating to the "pitch" issue, in order to ascertain why Ames had appeared to give a deceptive response. Ames responded that since he had worked in CIA's Soviet and Eastern Europe (SE) Division, he had been involved in pitches to potential assets. Also, he hypothesized that he might be known to the Soviets because of a recent defector. He further stated that he thought he might be reacting because he was preparing to go to Rome in July 1986, and had some concerns that he might be pitched there. From this, the polygrapher surmised that Ames had gotten his concerns off his chest, and there was nothing more to tell. Once again, the polygrapher went through the CI questions on the polygraph machine, focusing on the pitch issue. This time, the CIA examiner deemed Ames truthful and concluded the examination, characterizing Ames as "bright [and] direct." The examiner's supervisors concurred with the assessment that Ames was non-deceptive.
According to the FBI, which examined Ames's polygraph charts in June 1993, the deception indicated in Ames's response to the pitch issue in 1986 was never resolved, even though the CIA examiner passed Ames on this exam. Also in the opinion of the FBI, significant deceptive responses by Ames were detectable to questions dealing with unauthorized disclosure of classified material. No additional testing or explanations for these deceptive responses, however, were noted in Ames's polygraph file.

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Ames polygraph tests were invalid because the process was flawed by examiners who had not establish the proper psychological mind set in Ames because they were overly friendly. As a result, Ames's physiological reactions were unreliable.

I am sure Ames was called "Truthful" and the FBI disagreed with the results.   

Bill_Brown wrote on Jul 19^th, 2011 at 2:40pm:


Reading the above quote, it seems clear that the CIA polygraph examiner and his or her supervisor examined the charts and both judged that Ames had answered the questions truthfully.

Years later, after Ames was found to have been spying for the Soviet Union, polygraph examiners in the FBI looked at the charts and stated they would have scored them as “deceptive.”

It is absurdly easy for the FBI to declare, years after the fact, that they found Ames’ charts  indicated deception on specific questions.  I don’t find their claim at all credible.  This is not meant to suggest they are lying, rather, that with the answer in mind as they examined the charts, they were able to interpret the charts to agree with the answer they already had.

Sergeant1107,

The FBI reviewed the polygraph prior to Ames being arrested, they had taken the case as a joint venture with the CIA.  

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In 1993, when the FBI opened an intensive CI investigation of Ames, the Agency was fully cooperative and provided excellent support to the FBI's investigation. CIA deferred to the FBI's decisions regarding the investigation and allowed Ames continued access to classified information in order to avoid alerting him and to assist in developing evidence of his espionage. The common goal was to apprehend Ames, while safeguarding evidence for a successful prosecution. As has been stated earlier, the CIA/FBI working relationship during the FBI phase appears to have been a model of cooperation.


I have no personal knowledge of all the facts.  It appears polygraph did assist in the investigation, years after the original polygraph.  This was when the FBI assisted the CIA in investigating this case.  There are other cases where polygraph was instrumental in catching spies also.