| Event | Tip | Reason/Notes |
| Personnel Security Interview | The PSI crimes question, which asks whether you have ever committed a serious crime for which you were not caught, only covers SERIOUS CRIMES. DO NOT DISCLOSE ANY NON-SERIOUS CRIMES. Serious crimes, as described to me by my polygraph examiner, would be murder, rape, assault and battery, forgery, shoplifting as an adult, embezzlement, theft, and other crimes involving violence, or acts of dishonesty that result in financial gain. Another applicant, John Doe #2, advises that his examiner advised that shoplifting only applied if it was done for intentional financial gain or the amount was over $500. Contrary to popular belief on internet message boards, speeding, driving under the influence without getting caught, having a fake ID, downloading software without purchasing it, lying on a job application, etc. don't count and the FBI doesn't care. A list of offenses that should be disclosed, for guidance purposes, is available in Appendix I of the DOD LEPET polygraph briefing booklet in the manuals section above. But the appendix is a form for the examinee, not the examiner, and so it includes minor crimes as well (graffiti, for example). The form makes people disclose everything and the agency sorts it out; it's up to the adjudicator and the examiner to decide whether something is a serious crime. | Some PSI interviewers, such as mine, intentionally omit the word "serious" from the question on the form. As a result, people are being improperly asked to disclose "any" crime they ever committed for which they were not caught, which is not appropriate. Guess what? You can ask to read the PSI form before the interview starts. Why would they say no? |
| Personnel Security Interview | With very narrow exceptions, the PSI (and the entire background investigation) only covers the period in your life from age 18 and up. DO NOT PROVIDE ANY INFORMATION FROM BEFORE YOU WERE 18 unless the written PSI question tells you to do so. You are free to ask to see the form so you can read the questions yourself. | The official preamble on the form that sets the scope of investigation is intentionally not read by some interviewers, including mine. As a result, I disclosed software downloading I did when I was 12, for example. Although this didn't disqualify me, people I have correspondened with have been DQ'ed for conduct when they were juveniles that was completely inappropriate for the FBI to consider. Ask to review the preamble of the PSI form before the interviewer starts, and review the completed form before they sign it so that you can make sure they took down your statements accurately. There is no reason for them to deny your request, you just have to ask! |
| Polygraph examination | The FBI pre-employment polygraph is a variant on the Law Enforcement Pre-Employment Test (LEPET) taught at the Department of Defense Polygraph Institute. The exam tests your reactivity to "comparison questions" versus "relevant questions." Relevant questions are the topics that the FBI is most interested in, while comparison questions are those on which the examinee is expected to have an involuntarily deceptive reaction, even if the examinee is not actually lying. The examiner uses the comparison questions to gauge your reactivity and compare that with the reactivity on the relevant questions. The catch is, you still have to tell the truth on the comparison questions. So if your reaction is over a certain threshold--based on a complex calculation performed in realtime by the computer and later confirmed in the Headquarters review of the charts--you still fail the polygraph. My best tip: tell the truth, no matter what the question is. Additional information is available from the DOD LEPET familiarization manual in the manuals section. | There is a lot of confusion and misinformation on the internet message boards about the polygraph. 911jobforums.com has a policy that "no" information about the polygraph exam is allowed. I have to say, those folks are giving way too little credit to the other side as well as our own. Polygraph examination training to get to the level of "beginning" examiner lasts 520 hours over several months. There are numerous freely available publications about the Integrated Zone Comparison Technique, which has been scientifically tested in a published study. There is a large community of polygraph examiners available for private consultation. Private companies in Russia supply the equipment for government agencies over there and appear to be open about their methods. Commercial software is available in the U.S. that scores polygraph charts. I personally reviewed the DOD LEPET familiarization manual, and it contains no potentially sensitive information that could assist an examinee with the FBI polygraph. First of all, the FBI exam is a variant of the DOD LEPET like I said. Second of all, the Integrated Zone Comparison Technique is objectively testable, and the study mentioned above found 100% accuracy when inconclusive tests were excluded. Thirdly, any use of countermeasures automatically fails you. What is happening on these message boards is that the moderators are amplifying people's reactions to the questions on the test by inducing fear of the unknown. Guess what? That's probably more likely to get you an "inconclusive" result, which is substantially the same as a "fail," according to the FBI manual. You don't have to be afraid. On that subject, "Time Traveler," who states that he is a GS-15+ executive in the FBI but who has made some boneheaded admissions in private messages with me on 911jobforums.com, can go to hell. I told the truth on every question and had already disclosed everything potentially relevant in my written application, which is perhaps why my exam lasted 45 minutes instead of the multiple hours that some people get. I'll talk about it in more detail in the Polygraph section at left. |
| Telephone calls from the 202 area code | You are being contacted because your file is about to be adjudicated. The Analyst at SACU who is assigned to your case is asking for more information about certain areas that he or she found to be relevant to your potential disqualification or qualification. A Special Agent has been assigned to interview you about whatever subjects the Analyst wants. The SA will take down the most negative possible version of the facts. Do not speak with the Special Agent until you have taken down his or her name and that of his or her supervisor. Take contemporaneous notes of the conversation, including start and stop times. Consider sending a confirming letter or your own FD-302 laying out the conversation to SACU and your Applicant Coordinator, so that they have to consider your point of view when adjudicating your case and so your AC is on the same page. | What happened to me can happen to you. Whatever else you do, make sure you write down the full name of the Special Agent who contacts you. If they won't identify themselves, hang up and tell your Applicant Coordinator immediately. |
