Personal Statement of a CIA Analyst
antipolygraph.org
Personal Statement of a CIA Analyst
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Re: Personal Statement of a CIA Analyst
#2[flagged]
Re: Personal Statement of a CIA Analyst
#3Am I a bad person if the picture of someone in the CIA crying is funny to me? Not out of malice or anything. It's just something I didn't know they did.
Do they also have little "Hang in there!" posters on the wall, too?
Re: Personal Statement of a CIA Analyst
#4(2018)
Re: Personal Statement of a CIA Analyst
#5Am I a bad person if the picture of someone in the CIA crying is funny to me? Not out of malice or anything. It's just something I didn't know they did. Do they also have little "Hang in there!" posters on the wall, too?
It's a bureaucracy like any other.
Re: Personal Statement of a CIA Analyst
#6Am I a bad person if the picture of someone in the CIA crying is funny to me? Not out of malice or anything. It's just something I didn't know they did. Do they also have little "Hang in there!" posters on the wall, too?
Not bad, just as misinformed as most folks out there about the process and requirements.
National Security is a PITA, full of cutthroat sociopaths who would eat the SV VC-types for breakfast. That is a compliment, because the work they do is broadly dark and grimly necessary, at least at the levels of global geopolitics a lot of them are expected to operate at. I washed out in contracting for much the same reason this person kept "failing" polygraphs: honesty to the point of external perceptions of naivety. The types who excel in these sectors see folks like us as doormats or tissues, and react poorly when we catch them in the act and demand anything resembling respect because they know we're a threat to the entire establishment if we're allowed to succeed.
The point of polygraphs has always been about control, and folks who resist that sort of control are incidentally highlighting themselves as being uncontrollable to power alone. The books the author links are excellent starting points for understanding the true function of a polygraph, and why more places are outlawing them as a means of trying to diversify a deeply broken and hostile security apparatus by preventing it from being a "blind fools and sociopaths-only" club.
Re: Personal Statement of a CIA Analyst
#7Adding my POV from a former National Security perspective:
Author is 100% on point. The point of a polygraph is three-fold: weeding out the dipshits; exerting power over the powerless; and identifying the valuable assets (typically sociopaths). It does not - cannot - identify liars, deceit, or bad actors on its face (that comes from the manual the author linked). It's not scientific assessment, it's psychological torture.
Would I take a polygraph to reactivate my clearance? Yeah, if I had to. Would I pass? That's up to the examiner, because much like the author I won't tolerate being called a liar, nor will I capitulate to power games. I'll be honest, forthcoming, and cooperative - and if that's not enough to pass, then I don't want to work for you.
Re: Personal Statement of a CIA Analyst
#8Am I a bad person if the picture of someone in the CIA crying is funny to me? Not out of malice or anything. It's just something I didn't know they did. Do they also have little "Hang in there!" posters on the wall, too?
Not a bad person, just lacking in wisdom.
Re: Personal Statement of a CIA Analyst
#9I've no idea why I read to the end of that, seems like a long ramble, I kept expecting something to happen and it never did.
Re: Personal Statement of a CIA Analyst
#10Am I a bad person if the picture of someone in the CIA crying is funny to me? Not out of malice or anything. It's just something I didn't know they did. Do they also have little "Hang in there!" posters on the wall, too?
I would use this information to reflect.