Summary
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has begun administering polygraph tests to employees in an effort to identify individuals leaking information about immigration operations.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and border czar Tom Homan have blamed recent leaks for lower-than-expected ICE arrest numbers.
Noem stated that two leakers had been identified and would be prosecuted, though it’s unclear if polygraphs were used.
While DHS has used polygraphs before for hiring screenings, they are now being used to question employees about leaks of classified or sensitive law enforcement information.
As someone who has taken a polygraph, there’s nuance.
First, they’re unreliable because they can be beat- but neither you or I are beating them, you have to be trained to beat it.
Second, the reason they don’t work is because you can just not talk. But if you’re forced to talk to keep your job, you’re gonna show lots of lying indicators.
Third, it’s not a binary “did you lie”. They’re watching your blood pressure, heart rate, detecting any fidgets; things you subconsciously do when you lie. The person administrating the polygraph will then press you into a confession.
Edit: Not going to bother responding to the silly replies from armchair psychologists who feel smart “knowing” polygraphs are unreliable. For the vast majority of the population, when answering binary questions, you will answer them differently depending on whether or not you lie. Regardless of whether or not “this is admissible in court”, it’s more than enough to deny someone a clearance renewal. Rub your brain cells together and extrapolate.
Thats just plainly false.
There’s no reliable correlation between lying and heart rate or any other bodily functions. It’s an intellectual act after all not a physical one. It simply doesn’t compute.
The physiological response could be driven by literally anything and there’s no way to isolated it to “lying” - what if I’m nervous just because I’m being interrogated by people who are known to be dirty and untrustworthy?
Polygraph is the biggest snake oil in contemporary crime “science” and frankly its infuriating that it still exists and everyone who defends it should be bullied into returning back to sanity.
There is no machine or drug or anything else that can “detect” a lie or signs of deception. Polygraph results are purely interpretive, and anything that’s given to interpretation is given to the bias of the interpreter. Polygraph results are also wildly inconsistent. That’s why they are generally not admissible in court.
I am Sparticus.