Nightmare experience with Poly

SECURITY CLEARANCE Q&A
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The Devastating Impact of a Clearance Investigation on My Career and Family

This past year, I made the decision to pursue a federal position requiring a Top Secret clearance, hoping to advance my career and provide a better future for my family. However, this process has turned into a nightmare, leading to the loss of my job, financial hardship during the holidays, and an unjust interrogation experience that has left me questioning the fairness of the system.

I was employed as a Digital Security Engineer at a contract company where I consistently delivered exceptional results and received positive feedback. While navigating the clearance process, I was informed that a federal investigator would need to verify my employment. Understanding the potential risks of alerting my current employer, I specifically requested that the investigator avoid direct contact with them. Unfortunately, this request was ignored.

The investigator reached out to my employer, triggering immediate repercussions. I was called into a meeting and informed that my pursuit of federal employment was a “conflict of interest.” Despite my strong performance and commitment to the company, I was abruptly terminated. This was devastating, as I had worked tirelessly to contribute to my team and uphold my responsibilities. I was left confused and without an income to support my wife and two young children, all because of a process designed to help me grow professionally.

The situation worsened during the polygraph phase of the clearance process. In October, I underwent a polygraph and was accused of “spiking the test” on questions related to serious crimes or drug use. I was blindsided by these accusations and maintained my innocence, but I was told that I had failed the test. I tried to remain optimistic, believing the truth would ultimately prevail.

Then, on December 10, during a follow-up polygraph session, the situation escalated. When asked why I was unemployed, I explained my termination due to the federal investigation’s impact. The examiner grilled me, questioning why I had been let go if my performance had been strong and there were no prior issues. I was just as confused as they were and tried to explain the unjust reasoning behind my termination.

The interrogation became increasingly accusatory, with the examiner insisting that I was withholding information about drug use or criminal activity. I have no involvement with drugs or crimes, but the only possible connection I could think of was my wife’s legal medical marijuana use. She holds a medical card and occasionally makes purchases, but I personally do not use or approve of marijuana. I shared this information honestly, explaining that my income supports our household and is deposited into a joint account, but I have no involvement in her purchases. The examiner dismissed my explanation, claiming that my income still technically funded the purchases and that I must be hiding something else.

At this point, I felt coerced and accused of crimes I had never committed. When I voiced my concern about the fairness of the process, the examiner grew defensive, and I was told that I had failed again. This experience has left me feeling defeated and deeply frustrated.

I am now struggling to navigate the holidays without stable income or resolution. I pursued this federal opportunity to better provide for my family, only to lose my job and face accusations that have no basis in truth. Despite the obstacles, I have been transparent and truthful throughout this process, but it feels like honesty has only led to punishment.

This entire experience has been one of the most challenging and disheartening times in my life. I share my story to shed light on the unintended consequences of the clearance process and how it can unfairly impact individuals and their families.

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First off, I am sorry about the situation you are in. I do have a couple of questions and points to make though:

When you signed on your job, was there a non-competition agreement for whatever fed job you were applying to? Basically, was there any clauses stating that you could not seek employment in certain industries/companies/agencies for X amount of years?

For your poly - this seems like a normal experience. Nothing you described seems out of the ordinary.

Good luck, and hope everything is resolved.

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I am sorry to hear of this outcome but unfortunately nothing you described is outside the realms of a normal investigation. We are REQUIRED to get the employment records from the company itself unless they refuse to give it to us. That is not optional. We can not “honor” a request to not get required coverage. If there was a conflict of interest with your employer and the company you were applying to then your employer would have to terminate your employment. The same thing happened to one of my Subjects a few years back. They worked at company “A” who was a sub contractor to company “B” and the Subject was applying to work for company “B” so as soon as company “A” found out, they had to let him go. It sucks, but there cannot be any conflicts of interest. As far as the poly goes, when they asked why you were let go you should have stated it was due to the conflict of interest and stuck to that, since according to your story, that is the truth. The poly process is always stressful and they always make accusations. They will tell you that you failed even if you didn’t and most people have to go through the poly multiple times before getting cleared to advance past that step. As far as your wife’s marijuana use … what you were told is correct. The clearance process addresses drug activities and not just use. Providing funds, even through a joint account and not actually making the purchase, is still drug activity. You are still involved, even if indirectly. The feds do not recognize any legitimate reasons to use marijuana and ANY connection to the drug is an issue. The fairness of the process refers to the way the standards are applied equally to all cleared individuals and NOT how well those standards fit into an individual’s personal life. This sounds like a super crappy situation and I hope you and your family can find a way to navigate through this difficult period.

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The agency I was working with was DHS . The federal background check is for DoD . Separate agencies and I had never signed a non comp .

Really this is the normal process?

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As a massive worrywart and provider to my family along with a squeaky, too-good-too-be-true type background… I want you to take a breath. Breathe. I have been in your situation. All of it. You are not sunk yet (I know I thought I was!) First remember, that SOMEONE is paying for these sessions. That company/someone is still interested in you as a candidate. You are still just going through that vetting process. So, in a way, you have a job and to get to this point is a pretty good sign. During my interview, I had questions about the forms I filled out and how I interpreted the questions. When they call you back, bring up ANYTHING you can think of before it really starts. Some of those questions are questionably worded and leave things open to interpretation. Try and cut through some of that by being extremely forthright. I remember thinking too hard about things and triple questioning and coming up with tons of “what ifs” or “how abouts?” Once I asked for the clarifications, my last session ended up being my last session. Get me?

For the soon to be ex company, at will is at will and it kinda sucks since the courtesy seems to only go one way. We give them 2 weeks notice or else they take our saved PTO. They give us no heads up because they are allowed to worry about retaliation (as if it doesn’t go both ways!). Believe me, if all goes well, this may not be the last time finding yourself unexpectedly unemployed. When the going gets tough, the tough get going, which brings me to the last point…

Because of funding times, this is a GREAT time to be looking for work relatively speaking. Come January 6th, people are going to be hiring full blast. Use Indeed, use zip recruiter, fishbowl, and maybe LinkedIn. There are temp agencies that hire quickly and can use your suitability. Being fired because a company can’t balance their checkbook isn’t as big a deal as it may seem to a high achiever. Don’t take it personally that people whose job it is to be in charge of you have no idea or valid estimation of the value you bring. Especially if you fall above the average intelligence distribution.

You will get through this. Try not to go sick with worry this holiday season, take copious notes so you can bore your kids in the future with the tale of “How your father fought back and had miracles happen”. Rock it until you get your notification…

P.S. I was let go in December after I found a major production bug that essentially amounted to fraud for almost 2 years with the clients. I was the newest dev at the time and it ended up embarrassing the guys with multiples of my years of experience for not having caught this. It also showed that they were NOT running functional SQL queries. So to save face with clients they blamed a ~22ish month old bug on my 3 month old tenure. LOL. Oh and this was really just a week or two before Christmas. They wanted me to sign some NDAs and accept blame to get my last paycheck. It was ridiculous. Of course, I value my integrity so I did not and they kept my money and PTO. These companies aren’t some monolith. They are made up of people. Both some extremely good and some extremely flawed and early in their journey of self-improvement. Breathe and let your actions define you, not some short-sighted manager on a fixed price contract looking to increase their margin.

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I sincerely want to personally reach out and tell you, thank you. Your wisdom and story is exactly what I needed to hear, a reality check . I’m just extremely passionate about my career and had never been terminated , it feels like a lot is riding on my opportunity for federal employment. However you’re right , my last company doesn’t define who I am. I honestly felt guilty with holidays coming up , wife birthday and my 6 years anniversary that we would be riding this storm together as a family .

You offered me some real honest advice and I don’t mean to be emotional but I really appreciate every second you took to share with me. I really am glad things are working out for you now and I hope you and your family enjoy the holidays . I’m going to stay positive!

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Typical poly. Keep you off balance, accuse you of killing the archduke. Then you clear. Its a sucky thing to endure, had 4 myself. Never want to repeat them.

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“Accuse you of killing the archduke.” Comment of the Year. :trophy:

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Oh the nonsense spewed at me by polygraphers. Told “lighting up like a Christmas tree over here”
And no call back.
Felt like 14 rounds with young Mike Tyson.

Conversely, told all good, numbers were super good, no call back…5 month wait…call back.

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Indeed, polygraph charts don’t “light up like Christmas trees.” This is just one of many interrogation tactics used by polygraph operators to convince subjects that they can read their minds.

The federal polygraph school’s Interview & Interrogation handbook makes for interesting reading.

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Oh yeah, as frustration builds over hours of eye rolling, frowns, head shaking and various sleight of hand comments I told them they accused me of lying. Of course he never used that word, offered to play audio, video…

Only upside, knowing they do 2 a day, 10 a week, fairly certain after a werk they dont remember you at all.

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Yeah the polygraph sucks ass. My experience was similar to yours, but I’m fairly sure I “passed” since I haven’t gotten a rejection letter or been told to come back. It is a miserable experience, but it’s in the rearview mirror now. Good luck to you man, we’ve got this!

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I truly appreciate everyone’s feedback I hope this process will be worth it

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