Failed polygraph for communications position

[quickfix]

Intelligent people know polygraph is not a ruse, and not "everyone" gets accused of hiding something, nor is it is the "main part" of the test.  People who pass are not interrogated.  People who fail are.

[John M.]

Please elucidate.

The polygraph elucidated

Fear is a strong emotion, one that the polygraph operator interprets falsely as a lie.

The ruse that Poly Exposer is referring to is called deception.

I was said to have had a 'reaction' to the 'have you ever intentionally mishandled classified information' question.  I was called back two days later and was told that I 'bombed' it.  I freaked out because I thought without a clearance, I would lose my job of 14 years.  I told him everything that I and my office had done to transfer classified information since 9/11.  A lot of it was, depending on who you asked, potentially dangerous to security.  I wrote a four point paper discussing some of the questionable methods and submitted it to the SSO. I later obtained copies of these first two polygraph 'exams' and discovered that they had actually been rated – No Opinion (NO).  I also found out later through discovery that the DIA IG looked at my memo and declared that no security violations were found.

I was called back a third, fourth and fifth time.  Each time they pressured me more and more to confess. Their 'results' bounced back and forth between Significant Response (SR) and No Opinion (NO).  The fear of the question consumed me, I could not control my anxiety – the mere thought of the question made me nervous.  But they kept asking and asking, with increasing intensity.  It starts with insinuations and quickly turns in to accusations.

Why does it take four to five hours to ask five questions?

If the test is accurate, why do you need to give it five times in three years?

It was after the fifth test, the one in the electric chair-like setting in the DIA Office of Security, that I had the nervous breakdown that has dogged me to this day.

You see, it really is a mind-fuck like Doug Williams says.

[PolyExposer]

Intelligent people know polygraph is not a ruse, and not "everyone" gets accused of hiding something, nor is it is the "main part" of the test.  People who pass are not interrogated.  People who fail are.

Bullshit.  And fbx2 thinks that "spanking the cat" was something in her mind that would cause her to fail. The  polygraphers are not mind readers, they only know what you tell them (and anything on record like HR files, debt, or police records). You can have hundreds of things on your mind bothering you. So what. Tell nothing. Say you are just nervous. I passed an FBI poly this way.  The polygraphers need admissions to corroborate any spike in a chart, or reaction by the victim...err...examinee.

[George W. Maschke]

Actually, I think informed people understand that polygraphy is indeed a ruse, to the extent that it necessarily involves the polygraph operator lying to and otherwise deceiving the person being "tested." The late Dr. Drew Richardson enumerated some of the examiner deceptions inherent in polygraphy here:

https://antipolygraph.org/forum/index.php?topic=255.msg1214#msg1214

I can see how you might consider polygraphy not to be a ruse, to the extent that outcomes depend on how the polygraph charts are scored, but in broad terms, polygraph "testing" is an interrogation masquerading as a test.

I agree with you that not everyone gets accused of hiding something. And you're right that those who pass don't (usually) get interrogated. And yet interrogation is a key component of polygraphy, and it is heavily emphasized in polygraph examiner training.

I think Poly Exposer, while engaging in some hyperbole, makes an overall valid point.

[skingalvanics]

People who pass are not interrogated. 

That's correct.  That fact applies especially to such luminaries as Ames, Petersson, Pelton, Howard, the Cuban moles in the DIA, and countless others throughout the IC.