Hi all, FSO question for other FSOs.
We hired someone last year who self reported autism. He has a Top Secret clearance and due to his great technical skills we hired him and submitted for DIA SCI (CI Poly).
However after 4 polys (notes below) our program manager received a high side email with the line in the subject. “case has been withdrawn due to SEC 5 declining further poly testing”
Has anyone ever seen this? What does it mean? Is his TS safe? Can he try again in a year? What are reasonable accommodations during a poly for someone with autism?
Here was his experience: Feb 27 (inconclusive, told him diagnostics were thrown off), March 4 (received good data), March 21 (third poly - he’s concerned - approximately 10 hours, on now three separate days, they told him he was being deceptive) and March 27th (they had him sign a document stating they suspect he was cheating the poly). Him: this is not true. He had to sign it in order to start the examination (they would not give him a copy so we have no idea what is in this letter). The examiner didn’t think much of the letter from his doctor for the 4th test (showing autism diagnosis). When they finished up they said they would get back to him, but wouldn’t specify a rough time range.
“case has been withdrawn due to SEC 5 declining further poly testing” came in on April 18.
Any tips/advice?
There’s another web site I frequent and a couple years ago there was a person who claimed that he had to beg and plead and fight to get a third attempt at a poly with DIA because (at that time at least) they gave you two chances and that was it. So if we can trust that data point, your employee got further in that he got four tries.
I have heard of people getting into deep trouble with existing clearances because they were accused of ‘deception.’ On the other hand, I’ve known people whose processing was stopped under similar circumstances (without the allegations of deception) and it did not affect their existing clearance. I guess at this point it depends on whether they put an incident report into DISS/JPAS.
PS That guy who could not pass a DIA poly ended up getting hired with a TS/SCI by another agency that does not use the poly. Go figure.
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We one of the guys on my old team was told to wait a year after he failed his 2nd poly with DIA. He had been cleared for over 15 years and many CI polys. I think that OPs employee is lucky he got so many chances.
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@akbald01, I am not an FSO, but I can address a couple of your questions. You asked “Is his TS safe?” It is not. The fact that your employee is suspected of using polygraph countermeasures could very well culminate in the revocation of his security clearance.
Also, with respect to accommodations during a polygraph for someone with autism, there is nothing on this in the federal polygraph handbook.
I am curious about the form that they had your employee sign on March 27th. Did it merely state that they suspect he was cheating the polygraph, or did it in fact include words to the effect that he attempted to “alter his physiology?” If so, that would in fact be considered a confession statement.
It’s also worth noting that DIA countermeasure case files leaked to us strongly suggest that DIA (and other federal agencies) have no ability to detect sophisticated polygraph countermeasures (that is, things that a person who understands polygraph procedure and is trying to manipulate the outcome would actually do).
Sounds more like they talked him into signing something he did not understand. Honestly, sounds like he signed a “I decline to continue taking Poly” letter, and they put it in his file…end of story. Not fair if they used this stupid timeshare sales tactic on him. Having been cleared since 1982, and TS since 1995, and full Poly since 2010…with multiple poly’s…I am not signing anything like that. Period. Too easy to add words, use in a different process. This reeks of another poor sales tactic where you want to test drive a car, they ask for your license…in reality they conduct a hard credit pull to strengthen their negotiating position. I had an employee with Autism and he was a handful before I learned more about what causes problems. Once I learned how to schedule him in a manner lining up with what he needed…I gained a fully productive, happy employee and I was able to focus on other drama. It can be very hard to read an Autistic person’s body language and many on the spectrum cannot read your body ques. Obviously this makes it hard to stress out a person on the spectrum using common stress inducing body language. But things you would never consider a problem if you are not on the spectrum…present a real challenge to one who is on the spectrum. I’m afraid they have a letter stating he did not want to proceed and they will stand on that.
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