I’ve taken FS and CI polygraphs before, both requiring retakes before passing the exams, but they were all for new clearances. Right now, several people from my company up for a renewal are briefed in for one agency requiring a CI polygraph and several have passed the first time while several have failed (including me). If it matters, all of us got our SCI+polygraphs via previous work at other agencies. We indoc’d here years ago via crossover but for most, it’s our first time taking the polygraph at this specific agency. If it matters, this is neither CIA nor NSA.
They asked those who failed to come back. Those who don’t have to come back were also given a hard time and even gaslit till the very end about whether they passed.
I knew gaslighting + failed tests were common for initial FS applicants and I know it is an interrogation tool. But I was under the impression that was less common for CI polygraphs. And still even less common for renewals, where we have already been indoc’d at the agency for years. Is it possible I may lose my SCI for this, if I don’t pass within three attempts?
Is it still just a fake interrogation tool even for the 5 year renewals (i.e., not just for new applicants)? I always thought they tuned down the failure rates for renewals (vs. applicants) because it’d be insane to have people with deep expertise losing their clearances left and right over a pseudoscientific voodoo box. Hell, that’s just creating a target rich environment for foreign intelligence.