Kudos to Former NSA Polygraph Division Chief Tom Mauriello

[George W. Maschke]

As regular readers of AntiPolygraph.org know, the plight of Afghan interpreters who honorably served with U.S. forces, but whose applications for Special Immigrant Visas have been denied based on polygraph results, has been the issue that most concerns me in recent weeks. So I was very happy to see former NSA Polygraph Division Chief Tom Mauriello tell Newsy national security reporter Sasha Ingber that polygraphs should not be the decisive factor in such determinations:

https://antipolygraph.org/blog/2021/07/29/former-nsa-polygraph-division-chief-says-polygraphs-should-not-be-the-deciding-factor-in-visa-determinations-for-afghan-interpreters/

While Mauriello supports polygraph screening in general, his nuanced view about how polygraph results should be relied upon is welcome. (He expressed similar views at an International Spy Museum event this past February, though not in the context of visas for Afghan combat interpreters.)

I hope that other members of the polygraph community who feel that we should not deny visas to our Afghan interpreters based simply on polygraph results will similarly speak out on this urgent policy question. With our forces leaving Afghanistan by the end of August, time is quickly running out.