Europe and the poly

[falsepositive]

It's my understanding that the U.K., and the remainder of the E.U./NATO European countries don't use polygraphs with respect to the hiring and vetting of applicants to their respective security and intelligence services. Can anyone shed some light on this? -Thanks.

** I've heard the Aussies and Kiwis also don't but cant confirm

Any info on how our what our Asian allies do would be helpful as well S. Korea, Japan.

[George W. Maschke]

That's largely correct, though I think polygraphy may be making inroads in some of the former Warsaw Pact countries (e.g. Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovakia).

[falsepositive]

I'm wondering what their collective reasoning is for not using the poly. I'd like to think that they see it for what it is, but if they have some sound counter to its use i'd love to hear it.

[falsepositive]

 The former Warsaw Pact inroads make sense. Those countries have had a lot of contact with our forces over the past decade.

[George W. Maschke]

I'm wondering what their collective reasoning is for not using the poly. I'd like to think that they see it for what it is, but if they have some sound counter to its use i'd love to hear it.

I don't think any collective decision was made by European governments regarding polygraphy. In the mid-1980s, the US government put great pressure on the UK to introduce polygraph screening at GCHQ. A pilot program was established, with CIA and NSA polygraph operators providing training. But ultimately the British scrapped the polygraph.