Polygraph tests don't depend on secrecy. I, and millions of other people, have received one and it's fairly well documented. From what I can tell, the way that they polygraph criminals and people in intelligence is roughly the same.

It's used as more of a method to trick you into telling the truth than it is to detect lies. I don't think it's very easy to beat unless you teach yourself how to regulate your heartbeat.

It is in fact very easy to beat.

You don't have to control your hartbeat, you have to overreact to control questions (performing heavy mental calculations combined with holding your breath 2 seconds will do the trick!), so your (normal) response to the important questions will be less severe in comparison.

If your response to control question is stronger than your response to relevant questions, you pass the test. It that simple.

It's really not as simple as these anti-polygraph sites would have you believe.

There's a sensor that's strapped around your chest. If your breathing is irregular, they'll detect it. Also, doing anything mentally draining while someone is asking you a question and answering it correctly is not easy. At some point, you're going to have to focus on the question. You'd have to be able to consistently deceive them for every question and keep at it for several hours.

They don't necessarily tell you which questions are the control and they'll slip in questions that you'll have to think about and answer honestly. They'll catch your baseline with those. At times, they'll intentionally try to agitate you by accusing you of lying. It's difficult to keep cool and it will throw you off balance. You'll forget that you were trying to trick them.

The government knows about all of these stupid little tricks. People used to put pins in their shoe or contract their anal sphincter muscle to generate a response. Examiners now have sensors under your feet and ass. These tests aren't designed to simply detect that you're lying. They want to push your buttons and make you crack.

Silence is not a good a working strategy, I guess?

A polygraph is not the same as law enforcement questioning you. You're taking it because you want a security clearance or you want to keep your parole.

You can be stubborn about it and lie and insist that they've got it wrong, but your reading will show that you're holding back on them. If they sense that you're trying to deceive them, they'll fail you.

Thanks. We do not have that polygraphing here in Germany.

Over a 22-year period, Robert Hanssen, one of the most notorious spies in US history, passed several polygraph tests during his tenure at the FBI while he also sold secrets to Russia.

Both hanssen and Ames came up inconclusive in their polys. But they were able to cleverly explain them away. Coming up inconclusive is easy, passing outright is hard. To get a job at an intel shop you must pass. The problem with Ames and hanssen was in the organization, not the poly.

Can you speak from experience?

Excellent question and I'd like to see an answer - as I was thinking this too when I saw that post.

Cheers

I received a government polygraph test over a year ago.

A mock interrogation would not be very effective. The most important aspect of a polygraph is leverage. There has to be an incentive for the person being questioned (e.g. they want an out for committing a crime) so that they want to tell the examiner the truth. There should also be a real fear of failing the test. Your brother questioning you about who stole the cookie from the cookie jar wouldn't cut it.

As far as I can tell, the goal of the test is to make you spill your guts. You might consider yourself confident or be a pathological liar, but when you're afraid of lying, your body will react to it. It's a very unique experience and I don't think practicing lying or rehearsing your responses would be useful. They'll dwell on questions that they think you're trying to deceive them on and ask you over and over. Each time, you'll give them a little more ("well, one time, but I didn't inhale!") to get them off your back. They'll do the good cop/bad cop routine and occasionally storm out of the room. Eventually, hours later, you'll crack and think, "fuck it, I've already told them this much, might as well give them the rest." At that point, you're probably crying or look pretty distraught so they know they've got everything.