i had my first poly today and apparently “popped” on the drug question. i got grilled on it for the remainder of the time. i didn’t even get to the CI part. they said i “failed” and they’ll call me to schedule another one.
is this normal?
Seems like another one of their games. Same thing happened to me. Guy told me I failed after doing lifestyle but they would call me back in ASAP. It took about 3 months to get called back. When I got there I asked about failing the first one and she (different examiner) looked at my file and said no I passed with no issues. I just needed to come back to do the CI portion as we never got to it the first time.
Disclaimer: it is also possible I misunderstood him on the first one.
As @clearedrob notes, rescheduling does not seem to follow any set pattern. Some intel agencies that pay for an applicant to travel to take the poly try to schedule right away while the person is in town… but that doesn’t always work out. Maybe you also just ran out of time. Until you get some kind of rejection letter, you’re still in the running.
do you believe it’s a disqualifying admission to admit to drug use 8 years ago?
There needs to be more information. Which agency was this with. Did you admit to any drug use that you did not disclose on your SF86. It is slightly concerning that you did not get to the CI part and they just stopped your test.
Whenever a polygrapher tells you that you will have to take another test, usually you take another test. Polygraphers by their very nature are paid to lie to you, so what they say cannot be trusted.
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i admitted to drug use that was out of scope (approximately 8 years ago) of the SF-86. it was with a three letter agency, but i’m not super comfortable saying which— sorry. at the end of my poly, they said that we just ran out of time and they would have to call me to reschedule another session. i believe they kept trying to elicit a confession of me to admit to drug use within either the 7 year or 2 year scope, but i kept telling them that didn’t happen. i was very firm on that.
okay yeah that makes sense! the receptionist did note that i was local, so maybe that’s why they weren’t so quick to schedule me for the next day. plus, my polygraph was friday and ended at 12pm, so maybe they just didn’t have the bandwidth to reschedule me.
If you admitted to out of scope, that should not be a huge issue provided it is within the agency’s suitability criteria for drug use. If the polygrapher told you that they “ran out of time,” then you will most likely take another one and this is pretty standard. For your reference, you being told that they “ran out of time” is just a lie. Polygraph tests can only last about 3 to 4 hours tops. Before you even began your first session, the government already made the decision to give you another test.
On the plus side, this sounds normal. It seems like you are moving along in the employment process. Do not change what you said about your prior drug use.