My name is Russell Becker.  I am currently 41 years old, working as a janitor in Orlando FL.  I also work part time as a courtesy patrol in a mobile home park.  I have never been married and I have no children.  I have never smoked and I do not drink alcohol.   

I served four years in the United States Marine Corps (3051).  Honorable discharged in 1994.  I then went on to study at Liberty University.  I graduated in 1997 with a bachelors degree in Administration of Justice and a minor in Business.  I have never been arrested in my life.

My goal in life was to become a private investigator.  I applied for the FBI and failed their test (Tampa 1997).  I then took the US Secret Service exam in Jacksonville (1997).  I past this exam.  The next 7 months it was "I" who kept calling them for when the next interview was scheduled.  Meanwhile, I am working via. Kelly Services to pay my bills.  Then came my turn for the polygraph.  I had never taken one prior.

Only Yes/No answers staring at a blank wall.  The testor comes back and tells me I was being untruthful on the drug and serious crime questions.  I knew this was incorrect as I don't smoke... never have, never will.  I also have never comitted any crime.  I'm working and have been since I was 15.   

The testor then appeals to me to just admit to what I have done.   That I would be making 80K a year if I got the job.  I was insulted, asked to lie and my honor was being questioned.  They had pages of information I filled out.  They knew where I lived, worked and who I had as coworkers since graduating from High school in 1988.   

Yet they brushed me out the door.  The end.

I suspect they have limited spots and some Senator/Congressmans son or daughter needs a good government job.   My father served 24 years enlisted in the US Navy.  My brother served 6 years in the Navy.  I was the first in my family to graduate from college.  I spent 4 years away from my parents while in the Marine Corps (1 yr in Iwakuni Japan 3 years at Camp Pendleton) and this was how I get treated??  Seriously..... I am pissed!  They F%&€#d my life.   

Russell41 wrote on Dec 7^th, 2011 at 5:18am:

They can only F%&€#d with your life if you allow them. I too worked as a janitor and also spent 12 years in the Navy. Now I'm a scientist and nobody ever asks me to take a polygraph. Aim high Russell, Illegitimi non carborundum -- oorah!

Still working my two jobs.   Bought my first home via. VA loan.   

Yanno, first, I'm sorry for you Russell and do know what you went thru, and 2nd, the thought that keeps running across my mind is that they absolutely do use these machines to disqualify people due to quotas they need to fill, or as you say, a friend of a friend.  What I cannot fathom, is the mere fact, that heads of all these departments, CIA, FBI, and most police departments in the US, rely on these as being accurate?  That I cannot fathom, and the worst part is, these same people that supposidly believe in these poly devices, are the same people in charge of top secret information??????  Does that make sense, are they really that uninformed?

Russell, I've experienced the same thing as you and I can see and understand your frustrations. I've been trying to get on with different government LEA and I have not been able to pass several polygraphs despite having nothing to hide and telling the truth. Like you I have never smoked anything, do not drink and never have drank, have no criminal history, no automobile history, or anything like that. I graduated from a highly ranked primary STEM (science, technology, engineering & mathematics) university and have decent grades, or decent enough to work for any high tech company or place such as Nasa, Google, or top end automotive company. Additionally, I'm in a highly above average physical condition.

With all that said, during the first polygraph with a premier LEA in my area, I thought I passed the test with flying colors, yet the examiner came back saying I failed the question about my use of drugs and that I had other inconsistent results. I was upset and didn't know how that could be given that I've never done any drugs in my entire life, yet I was being branded as a Mexican drug lord or meth addict. During the re-test with the same agency, a different examiner told me that I had absolutely bombed the test and wasn't even close. He then asked me what was I holding back, and I told him nothing and that there wasn't anything else for me to say cause I had already said everything. Yet he still insisted that I was holding something back and may have committed some crime or did something like that, which I wasn't telling him. That was ludicrous to me given that I've never committed a serious crime or anything even close. A week or so after that, I got a letter in the mail from them saying I was disqualified from employment consideration cause of the polygraph, which is utter BS. I was upset though given that I was the most fittest, and likely one of if not the most smartest candidates that was in the hiring process till I got kicked out.

For another Gov't LEA that I applied to, I made it to the polygraph stage and after the exam, I felt for sure that I knew that I had passed it. I was and felt calm, didn't move at all, stared at a blank spot on the wall, didn't cough or take deep deep breaths, and did not even think about anything during the questioning except for giving a truthful yes or no based on the question asked. Yet to my surprise when I went back into the room to here my results, the examiner said that I failed utterly miserably, and I was like "not possible" in my mind. The examiner went on to tell me that I was hiding something about my criminal history and needed to tell him everything but once again, I couldn't tell him anything cause I had nothing to say. He also told me that I was lying about my prior employment history, which is ridiculous cause why would I lie about something like that. When unless its a job being paid strictly cash, that they could just go an look up my tax information in some big database. He kept on though trying to get me to confess to working somewhere else that I hadn't been telling him, as if he wanted me to admit that I'm some big pimp managing prostitutes in Miami, which is a city a few minutes from where I am now. 

The polygraph machine has to be a bunch of utter nonsense. I can't buy it at all, given the experiences I've had with it, despite telling the truth. I'm also beginning to think that the polygraph may be heavily biased against those coming from a certain background, upbringing, race, or something like that. Cause a question aimed at one person may be perceived as a conviction to him or her, while the same question to another person may just be simply taken as a simple question. It is stupid to think that a machine that uses 4 parameters can detect if a person is lying. The human body is such an extremely complex organism that even the brightest PhD's and MD's don't understand, so I don't see how some person with a lame, junk science machine can understand the human body any better. Heck, every human being has a different heart beat pattern, different finger prints, different iris shapes, and so on and so on, so why would everybody respond the same to a stupid question!!!!   

Government practices are often all shady, screwed, and unnecessary. Government officials are some of the biggest hypocrites I've seen too. I bet you all the money in the world though that they would never make it a requirement to take a polygraph to be a U.S soldier or marine. So they can ship you of to Iraq, Japan, Afghanistan, Libya, South Korea, Libya, or Uganda to face insurgeons, IED's, and rifle rounds without the blink of an eye, but when you happen to get closer to entering their crooked secret boys and girls club they then want to all of a sudden want to be all honest and full of integrity(that's sarcasm). I'll get of my soap box and end my rant though  , it's just a totally unfair and stupid process when they can just easily do a thorough background check before hiring. 

Quote:

You mean the truth as YOU see it.  Of course blame it on the machine.  Do you honestly think the machine knows your race, background, or if you have an accent?  Maybe the machine didn't like your moustache.  Or the clothes you were wearing.  Oh wait, I know- the machine detected your bad breath, that's why you failed!

George W. Maschke wrote on Mar 26^th, 2014 at 7:39pm:


No argument on that point.  Examiners are not supposed to be biased, but rather a neutral, disinterested party.  Not always the case, particularly in criminal exams.

I don't even have to try to demean you;  you've done that all by yourself.  The fact that you have failed "several" polygraphs with "several" LE agencies speaks volumes. Perhaps you should pursue employment that does not require honesty or integrity as part of the application process.  May I suggest shopping mall security guard?