The objective of the CIA polygraph program is to extract derrogatory information from the applicants that the security division could not have known based upon a single scope background investigation (Sf-86). When the polygraph exam is conducted and the polygrapher notices a consistent spike in the applicants response to a question, the polygrapher will use that as a gateway to accuse the applicant of lying and then interrogate the applicant. The polygrapher might not necessarily believe the applicant is lying, but rather there is something on the applicant's mind that caused the physiological reaction. Nevertheless, the polygrapher will operate under the guise of actually believing the applicant is lying and hence proceed with an intensive interrogation session. When the polygrapher tells the applicant that they were unsucessful on the polygraph exam, they will seemingly appear to help the applicant by giving them a "second chance." They will tell the applicant that despite the fact that their exam was unsucessful, there is still a chance for them to redeem themselves and suceed with the polygraph portion. What the applicant must do is explain to the polygrapher whatever it was that was on their mind. If they do not, then the polygrapher threatens that the adjudicators will look upon their lack of admission a sign that the applicant must be holding something back extremely concerning and detrimental. This places the honest applicant in a dire dilemma. If the applicant really did not have anything that was on their mind that caused the spike in physiological reaction, then they would be likely to make up something. If the applicant did have something on their mind, then they would obviously tell them what it was. Either way, the polygrapher will use the applicant's cooperation as an avenue to interrogate the applicant and extract as much derrogatory information from them as possible. The polygrapher will attempt to distort the applicant's sense of normal human interaction to get them to loosen up and be prone to share the most secret, disturbing and embarassing conduct. The polygrapher will repeat rhetoric along the lines of, "You're going to tell us things that you have never told any person in your entire life. Whatever you tell us will not be shared with anyone outside of these walls." They will also go on sharing with the applicant disturbing acts that other applicants have told them that they commited. All of these tactics serve to essentially brain-wash and manipulate the applicant into believing that if they do share their most embarassing conduct, then things will turn out positively in the end. When in fact, the job of the CIA polygrapher is to extract as much self-damaging information as possible from the applicant to justify their clearance denial.

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