Pass BI but do not pass Poly

SECURITY CLEARANCE Q&A
1

Hey all,

I have a question. For TS clearance, I am curious about the situation if a person passes (for lack of a better word) the background investigation but does not pass the polygraph (inconclusive or deception).

Can a clearance be denied solely on the polygraph results? Or would the agency just send one of those vague rejections based on suitability?

2

This is one of those questions that gets into semantics/jargon/babblespeak.

The investigation completes, good or bad. The standard for completing the background investigation has to do with the report itself and not the nature of the information contained therein. That is, is all the necessary information there, have all the follow-up questions been answered, is the report properly formatted, etc etc etc.

For situations where the clearance requires the polygraph as well, it is just another datapoint. I’ve read on here where people can have an “inconclusive” poly and still be granted a clearance. In my experience (a couple inches wide but many years deep), the only similar situation I’ve encountered was when people who were already cleared and did not attain a “successful” poly were allowed to retain their clearance. Sometimes they didn’t even get asked to do another poly.

(I hope that last sentence makes sense, I tried to write it a couple different ways)

I don’t know if you’d be denied outright (and possibly entitled to appeal) or if it would be like you say, the ‘suitability’ rejection.

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3

Understood. Thank you for the response.

I take it that based on your experience, a first time clearance is unlikely with an inconclusive polygraph? Both of mine were inconclusive. I was explicitly told on the first one, and it was more or less implied on the second.

4

I am still processing for an agency in which I had 2 inconclusive polygraphs. I have been processing for a good 17 months after my polygraphs. I have a feeling that if that was an issue, then it would have already been addressed. I wouldn’t worry about it.

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5

Based on my experience, yes… but there have been reports to the contrary.

Keep hope alive!

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