Re: 2 Down, more to go? Help!

[George W. Maschke]

What do i do? Can i refuse the test? would this end my chances of employment? They are not being helpful about what I can or cant do.  I cant keep waiting and passing on other jobs.

Yes, you can refuse a third polygraph, but the result will be that you won't be hired by the agency in question.

Any suggestions would be great.

If I were in your shoes, I would withdraw my application and seek employment elsewhere rather than pinning my hopes on an agency that so disrespects its employees as to pretend to assess their honesty and integrity on the basis of such quackery as polygraph chart readings.

I highly recommend that you read "Interviewing With an Intelligence Agency (or, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Fort Meade)":

http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/nsa-interview.pdf

See also the Washington Post article, "Polygraph Test Results Vary Among Agencies" and the additional links provided below it on this message board for more about the recent Kafkaesque polygraph experience of David Vermette, who posts here as Onesimus.

In addition, see the personal statements on AntiPolygraph.org here:

http://antipolygraph.org/statements.shtml

HELP! ADVICE! KEEP ME SANE!

There's nothing wrong with your sanity. Those who should perhaps have their heads examined are the policymakers who persist in their reliance on the pseudoscience of polygraphy for national security purposes.