Regrettably, it appears that to help meet their quotas, recruiters sometimes instruct applicants to omit details on their enlistment papers. This puts service members in a dilemma when they seek security clearances.

To address the question in the title of your post, although there is no relevant question about medical history in polygraph screening interrogations, it is possible that you'll be questioned about it during the pre-test or post-test phases.

It is not unusual for a question like "Have you ever lied on an official form?" to be asked, but in the context of a polygraph screening, it would be treated as a control question, not a relevant one.

It is unusual for an investigation to be launched solely based on polygraph chart readings. The main purpose of the polygraph is to elicit admissions.

To learn more about polygraph methodology (it has no scientific basis and depends on the polygrapher lying to and otherwise deceiving the examinee), see our book, The Lie Behind the Lie Detector:

https://antipolygraph.org/lie-behind-the-lie-detector.pdf

Mistertst wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2014 at 6:45pm:


I don't think you're likely to get into significant trouble for having lied, upon your recruiter's instructions, about a childhood disease.

Quote:


No. The pre- and post-test portions of a polygraph examination are typically conducted without the attachments connected to the examinee.

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There are "irrelevant" questions and "control" questions, but there's no such thing as an "irrelevant control" question. You'll find the various polygraph question types explained in detail in Chapter 3 of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector.

Mister,
You should give the answer that is expected as determined in the pre-test interview.

See this thread regarding the expected answer to a "control" question:

https://antipolygraph.org/cgi-bin/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1372332011

Mistertst wrote on Apr 25^th, 2014 at 3:16am:

Mister,
I don't know you mean by "off the charts" control questions. In the thread the George directed you to, it mentions the appropriate section in TLBTLD which you should read to help in your understanding of control questions and their purpose. From your post, I think you need to read it thoroughly and come back with any residual questions you may have.

In a control question test, polygraphers expect to see reactions to control questions. The key to passing is to show stronger reactions to the control questions than to the relevant questions.

The Department of Defense typically uses a "directed-lie" technique called the "Test for Espionage and Sabotage." In this variant, the polygraph operator actually instructs the examinee to lie to the control questions. You'll find examples of the questions asked on the Test for Espionage and Sabotage in the federal polygraph handbook:

https://antipolygraph.org/documents/federal-polygraph-handbook-02-10-2006.pdf

Mistertst wrote on Apr 27^th, 2014 at 2:41am:

Mister,
I have not heard this exact wording. Sometimes, the question "Do you intend to tell me the truth today?" is asked, but more often used as an unscored sacrifice relevant. I stand by my previous recommendation that you study the related sections in TLBTLD more thoroughly to learn to be able to differentiate between the various types of questions.