So my sister had her interviews/polygraph with the NSA (National Security)

[Terran1212]

She works fulltime for homeland security in Atlanta but wants to join the NSA or other Fed agencies in Washington (she also is interested in defense department).

Last time she had interviews with the NSA, she failed the drug question on the polygraph.

This time, they broke the question up into 3 parts:

- Have you ever used illegal drugs?

- Have you ever dealt illegal drugs?

- Have you ever manufactured illegal drugs?

The first two questions she passed easily, but on the 3rd she was asked the question TEN TIMES and the polygraph showed her to be lying each time in answering "no."

Now, I live with her. I know she's never used illegal drugs, and she sure as hell does not manufacture them.

The lady taking the polygraph told her, "You MUST'VE done something.."


Just goes to show you this high-tech technology of the NSA, no?

[3waygeek]

1. I went through the same

process in 1987. However, in my interview, the questions were mostly about sex, not drugs.

[papau]

13. In olden days a psych watched and "no" was followed by "did you enjoy

doing XXX" where XXX was the thing you said no to.

Sex was a really big part of the 4 (? I forget the number) hours.

The other parts where interesting, but the long lie detector session was special.

[wakeme2008]

2. polygraphs are BS and

anybody that depends on them are crazy.

[Generic Other]

3. You are your sister's main security leak

Ha Ha.

I thought they weren't allowed to talk about Fight Club.

Concerning the poly exam. Maybe it was those mud pies she made as a child? There's a reason why they won't accept those tests in court.

[Terran1212]

5. I even got to go to work for Homeland Security as a roleplayer..

Me, a seventeen year-old. The security isn't exactly tight.

But they sure do a lot of surveillance, in places you probably wouldn't guess.

[Generic Other]

10. I was always under the impression they were super-secret

And not even allowed to tell their spouses how their day was when they came home from work.

And they let you be a roleplayer. Or were they really secretly interrogating you for real? You'll never know, will you?

:evilgrin:

[Terran1212]

15. Homeland Security is not really as secret as you may think

They employ about 400,000 people, including FEMA. They train a LOT of people in the private sectors, you know people who run banks, hotels, museums, etc.

And they train police officers, transportation officials. They have many plainsclothes agents and secret cameras and whatnot, but because they do have such am umbrella of forces behind them, they can't exactly be cloak-and-dagger like you might expect from something like the CIA.

[Joe for Clark]

4. It does. Good post.

Joe

[FreedomAngel82]

6. Ugh

How wrong.

[Poppyseedman]

7. Asking her the same question ten times would invalidate

the original question response

I don't understand their point, unless they thought they could shake her up by being ass hats

[txindy]

11. That's what I was thinking. Repetition annoyed her & got a phys. response

Repeating a question over and over changed everything. What a brilliant technique. :eyes:

[SPKrazy]

8. That's why they aren't admissible in court

polygraphs use technology that basically measures the body's stress responses (sweat gland activity in the skin, blood pressure, respirations speed)

for some reason your sister had a stressed response to that question. Doesn't mean she's lying, but it is a measure to question the response.

Again, they aren't accurate enough to be much of anything but a screening tool, in a big toolbox.

[Dogmudgeon]

9. I had a polygraph test once

I out-and-out told my prospective employer's examiner I used LSD.

"You're lying. The machine says so," the examiner laughed.

"Okay, I didn't use LSD," I said.

"Clean. Okay, you can go."

C'mon. I've lied. I've cheated. I've stolen. In trivial ways, to be sure, but I'm no more virtuous than anyone else. We all have fallen short of the glory of God, etc.

Polygraph tests for "truth" are good for one thing and one thing only: They are intimidation devices. You could stick a colander on the head of an anxiety-prone perp and if he believed it was a polygraph, he'd start blabbing.

Scientology's magic E-Meters work better than multi-channel polygraphs when it comes to determining "truth". (Maybe it takes a fraud to sell a fraud, eh?)

--p!

[babylonsister]

12. That colander and perp thing, I'm sure it's been done! LOL! nt

[Dogmudgeon]

14. Yep -- it has

It's usually foremost in those true-law joke books, like The Trenton Pickle Ordinance or The Law Is (Still) An Ass.

Three cops "connected" a colander to a Xerox machine with a length of wire, and stuck the perp (some petty criminal, nothing major, IIRC) in a chair. A piece of paper in the machine said "He's Guilty". They'd ask him a loaded question, then push the "print" button, and out would come the copy saying "He's Guilty". The guy broke down and confessed, but again IIRC, his lawyer got the confession thrown out.

--p!