FBI Director Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Three Senior Staff
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Re: FBI Director Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Three Senior Staff
#2the FBI’s employment eligibility guidelines say all employees must obtain a “Top Secret” clearance in order to work at the agency following a background check.
The furor here is about Dan Bongino, and Nicole Rucker, Kash Patel's assitant
The article goes on to say that FBI employees at the level Bongino and Rucker are working at have "SCI" clearance on top of Top Secret. Back in the 1990s, it was exceptionally difficult to get TS clearance. SCI on top of that must have been even harder.
I guess this is no worse than Jared Kushner getting a waiver to work at the White House during Trump's first term, but holy cow, getting this kind of special treatment really does reinforce a big difference between classes, doesn't it? Any ordinary, non-rich person getting "alerts" on polygraphs would probably be immediately dropped from getting a Top Secret.
Re: FBI Director Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Three Senior Staff
#3It'd matter more if polygraphs weren't completely bogus pseudoscience in the first place
Re: FBI Director Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Three Senior Staff
#4Bongino use to be Secret Service, tasked with protecting Bush then Obama, for what it’s worth.
Re: FBI Director Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Three Senior Staff
#5It'd matter more if polygraphs weren't completely bogus pseudoscience in the first place
Sure, but don't you find it a little curious that these tests are being waived so selectively? If the FBI believes polygraphs serve some purpose, why would it choose to waive them?
Re: FBI Director Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Three Senior Staff
#6Re: FBI Director Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Three Senior Staff
#7It'd matter more if polygraphs weren't completely bogus pseudoscience in the first place
Sure, but don't you find it a little curious that these tests are being waived so selectively? If the FBI believes polygraphs serve some purpose, why would it choose to waive them?
Does it bother me? Yes. But the real solution is to not have polygraphs at all, not to get upset that a few people didn't get them.
Re: FBI Director Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Three Senior Staff
#8Bongino use to be Secret Service, tasked with protecting Bush then Obama, for what it’s worth.
I suppose that matters of how closely the body guards get exposed to state secrets. Surely there is some accidental leakage, but you would hope that getting elevated to the top would require close scrutiny.
From mid-way in the article
He’s had a rocky tenure so far, marked by public fights with senior Cabinet officials and accusations that he leaked information to the press, which Bongino denied. In August, Trump appointed Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey as co-deputy director at the FBI, setting off speculation that the White House had lost faith in Bongino. But he remains in the job.
ProPublica could not determine whether Bongino sat for a polygraph exam or what its results were. Though the existence of a polygraph waiver is an indication he may not have passed the test, it is possible Bongino received a preemptive exemption, a former senior FBI official with knowledge of the vetting program told ProPublica.
When ProPublica sought comment from the FBI, the agency denied that Bongino or the other senior staff members failed polygraph tests. “It is false that the individuals you referenced failed polygraphs,” wrote spokesperson Ben Williamson.
Re: FBI Director Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Three Senior Staff
#9It'd matter more if polygraphs weren't completely bogus pseudoscience in the first place
The reason it's interesting is that the subjects of these fake tests thought they might work and thus they skipped them.
It's irrelevant whether they do anything. It's more important why they were skipped. What questions would the interviewer ask that they didn't want to risk answering?
Re: FBI Director Waived Polygraph Security Screening for Three Senior Staff
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, but don't you find it a little curious that these tests are being waived so selectively? If the FBI believes polygraphs serve some purpose, why would it choose to waive them?
Does it bother me? Yes. But the real solution is to not have polygraphs at all, not to get upset that a few people didn't get them.
You really mean it's not worth getting upset that employees are put through stupid and sometimes even quite invasive or degrading questioning in a humiliating and fear-driven process that bosses don't?