On a CI poly, how does the test or examiner treat a person’s beliefs, thoughts or fantasies? If you have thoughts or fantasies but never intend on acting on those thoughts/fantasies, will that be held against you?
You should keep your beliefs, thoughts, and fantasies to yourself. The relevant questions all concern behavior, for example, whether you’ve ever tampered with a government computer system or had unauthorized contact with a representative of a foreign government. You’ll find the questions asked enumerated in the Test for Espionage and Sabotage administrator’s guide.
So could planning fictional hypothetical events in your head that you’d never do set off red flags during the exam? Seems like there’s free speech issues with that.
If, for whatever reason, one experiences more anxiety when answering the relevant questions than when answering the “control” (or “comparison”) questions, then one is likely to fail the polygraph.
In any event, the polygraph is not a mind-reading machine, and polygraph subjects are under no obligation to disclose private thoughts that are not responsive to the relevant questions.
If one discloses “planning fictional hypothetical events” that one would “never do,” then that will be noted and could result in adverse consequences.
1 Like