Thank you Antipolygraph.org! I passed my poly and got a final job offer.

[My Pronoun is "It."]

I recently received a final job offer with a three-letter U.S. government agency.  I needed top-secret clearance with a full scope poly.  I took the poly about a year ago and thought I failed but the agency started my background check and such and here I am a year later with a start date!  I guess it means I passed!

I did not use any countermeasures.  I followed the basic advice that I got from this website and other blogs and forums, which all now seem to be offline or defunct.  That advice is:  DO NOT CONFESS.  I was interrogated of course and accused of being deceptive about crime, drugs, etc.  I denied everything.  My denials were complete lies of course because I literally had child porn on my computer for years but just deleted all because of this job. lol.  I also did some illegal drugs and had sex overseas with underage hookers in the past few years but I stopped those activities as well.    The poly really is easy to pass if you can survive the harsh interrogation and just don't tell them anything.  Thanks Antipolygraph.org!

[My Pronoun is "It."]

I know I am being stupid by making confessions here but I am using TOR and I doubt any law enforcement will find this post and seek out to track me down.  I'm not worth that effort.  Everyone relax and beat your poly.
;-)

[George W. Maschke]

I recently received a final job offer with a three-letter U.S. government agency.  I needed top-secret clearance with a full scope poly.  I took the poly about a year ago and thought I failed but the agency started my background check and such and here I am a year later with a start date!  I guess it means I passed!

I did not use any countermeasures.  I followed the basic advice that I got from this website and other blogs and forums, which all now seem to be offline or defunct.  That advice is:  DO NOT CONFESS.  I was interrogated of course and accused of being deceptive about crime, drugs, etc.  I denied everything.  My denials were complete lies of course because I literally had child porn on my computer for years but just deleted all because of this job. lol.  I also did some illegal drugs and had sex overseas with underage hookers in the past few years but I stopped those activities as well.    The poly really is easy to pass if you can survive the harsh interrogation and just don't tell them anything.  Thanks Antipolygraph.org!

Right...

[My Pronoun is "It."]

Right...

George, are you denying the fact that someone like me can pass an IC full-scope poly while hiding criminal activity?  Or are you just repudiating that someone like me would come on this forum and make such a confession?

[George W. Maschke]

Right...

George, are you denying the fact that someone like me can pass an IC full-scope poly while hiding criminal activity?  Or are you just repudiating that someone like me would come on this forum and make such a confession?

I think you're here to troll. Please don't.

[My Pronoun is "It."]

Well, I'm not here to troll, I was being completely honest in my polygraph success story.  I have a few "bad" friends who also passed their polys thanks to this site.  But, if you don't want me to post in this thread anymore, then I won't. 

[Anthony R]

That is the problem with polys and VSAs.  Too many bad people are passing, and too many good people are failing.  Even if "It" is trolling, it does not change the fact that so-called lie detectors are destroying lives by letting criminals go, think Gary Ridgway, and innocent people nearly being killed for entertainment on the Steve Wilkos show.

[Logical]

I don't think trolls like that even understand what they're doing.

It looks like they're trying to get across that countermeasures let the worst of society pass polygraphs, this website is bad.

But taking this to the logical conclusion just shows that polygraphs should be banned precisely because the worst of society can easily cruise through these exams with a bit of prep work.

All polygraphs do is filter out people too stupid or nervous to perform under pressure. Is it really worth letting a bunch of sociopaths and psychopaths into positions of power just so the govt can celebrate rejecting someone who got caught lying about doing weed twenty years ago?

I think most would say no.

[George W. Maschke]

I don't think trolls like that even understand what they're doing.

It's hard to say. It could be that the poster was an opponent of polygraph screening trying to tweak the noses of the polygraph community.

It could also be the case that the poster was a federal agent trying to create a predicate for an investigation.

Or it could be that the poster was in fact sincere (but exercised poor judgment).

It looks like they're trying to get across that countermeasures let the worst of society pass polygraphs, this website is bad.

That, too, is possible.

But taking this to the logical conclusion just shows that polygraphs should be banned precisely because the worst of society can easily cruise through these exams with a bit of prep work.

I wholeheartedly concur. Note that the polygraph community has long known this to be true. It seems to me that they care more about their jobs than they do about national security and public safety.

All polygraphs do is filter out people too stupid or nervous to perform under pressure.

Polygraphs do more than that. They also filter out people who are neither too stupid nor too nervous to perform under pressure. Many well-qualified, honest applicants for positions of public trust fail polygraph screening "tests" and end up being blacklisted.

Is it really worth letting a bunch of sociopaths and psychopaths into positions of power just so the govt can celebrate rejecting someone who got caught lying about doing weed twenty years ago?

I think most would say no.

Indeed, most would say no. Public understanding that polygraphy is a pseudoscientific fraud is at an all-time high. Ironically, so too is the U.S. government's reliance on the polygraph. It's unclear how long this house of cards can stand.

[Anonymous Deputy]

All polygraphs do is filter out people too stupid or nervous to perform under pressure.

Like what happened to me? I wasn't stupid, and usually mere nervousness isn't really the misread that occurs when the polygrapher falsely accuses one of lying. I was nervous in general, but did not show specific nervousness at any particular line of questioning. I was raised very sheltered from birth, and had not been exposed to much of the evil I was questioned about, nor had I thought about most of it. And yet, I was basically accused of lying about distribution and manufacturing of illegal drugs.

I think what polygraphs do is confirm preconceived bias that they polygrapher has.

If you look at how they are trained to detect lying, most of it started with basic classes on deception during investigations school or interview and interrogations classes, both of which I now have in my role as an interdictor.

I have been extensively trained to watch for and detect patterns that indicate untruthfulness, and while I have gotten to the point of 90%+ success at being right, I still get it wrong sometimes. It isn't any one sign that indicates being untruthful, it's a waterfall of signs to watch for in quick succession when questioned or pressed about specific things. 90% of the time I can guess the drug being trafficked even when the subject denies all the way til the search of the car that he has anything at all. When I get to the part where I list the various types of drugs in quick succession, the perp will generally shake his head or say 'no' or 'nope' a certain way for each one, but the one he's guilty of trafficking he will nod his head unconsciously, glance at the car or trunk for that one, or the pitch of his voice changes.

Polygraphers are similarly trained to ask questions in a way that triggers these responses, they watch for pattern changes, etc., and they use the machine to confirm this, but everybody's 'base line' is different, every polygrapher is different, and just like I'm wrong at least once or twice a week, so are polygraphers. The difference is, when I'm wrong, I let an innocent (or merely empty) person go on down the road, whereas innocents for being hired are sent on with hopes and dreams, some of which they prepared for for years, crushed into tiny bits in less than 4 hours.