AntiPolygraph.org has received a copy of U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, Office of Inspector General Directive 51 210 dated 13 August 2012, which "outlines the OIG policies and procedures concerning the use of the polygraph examination as an investigative technique." The document, which was released pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act request and includes some redactions, may be downloaded as a 15.4 mb PDF file here:
https://antipolygraph.org/documents/va-oig-polygraph-program.pdf If you are a VA employee and have been asked to submit to a polygraph examination, you'll want to review this document first. It makes it clear that the whole point of OIG polygraph "testing" is to get admissions. Section 1.b.3 provides:
Quote:...The detection of deception is only part of the procedure. Examinations are completely successful when the end result achieved is arriving at the truth...
"Arriving at the truth" is a euphemism for getting a confession from the person under investigation.
A particularly odious provision of the VA OIG directive is that the audio or video recording of polygraph examinations
"is normally not authorized." (See Sections 4.a.1 and 2.) There is no good faith reason
not to record a polygraph examination. The sole rationale for not doing so is to give the polygraph operator carte blanche to use whatever interrogation tactics he or she pleases, knowing that no objective record of what transpired in the polygraph suite will ever surface. If there's any dispute about what was said or done, it will, by design, be the polygrapher's word against the suspect's.
If you've been asked to submit to a polygraph "test," be aware of the provisions of Section 6.a:
Quote:Refusal to Undergo a Polygraph. If a VA employee is the subject of an OIG investigation and declines to undergo a polygraph examination, no adverse administrative action may be taken against the employee based solely on their refusal to take the exam. Investigators should advise VA managers and/or supervisors that no adverse action may be taken based against [sic] an employee based solely on the employee's refusal to undergo a polygraph examination.
However, if you take the polygraph and fail, the results
can (and no doubt will) be used against you. It is quite common for truthful persons to fail the polygraph, and you would be well advised to exercise your right to refuse.