Since Kash Patel took over as director of the FBI, the bureau has significantly increased its use of lie detector tests, often asking officials questions designed to determine whether they have ever discredited their boss.
Generally, the FBI uses the test to identify employees who may have betrayed the country or who may prove to be unreliable. With the arrival of the new director, however, things are changing.
According to the New York Times, during interviews and polygraph tests, the bureau asked its senior officials if they had said anything negative about Patel. In one case, officials were forced to undergo polygraph testing as the agency tried to determine who had leaked to the media the news that Patel had requested a service weapon, even though he was not an agent.
According to some former federal officials, such practices are highly inappropriate. According to them, to date, denigrating Patel or his deputy, Dan Bongino, could cost you your job. “The loyalty of an FBI employee is to the Constitution, not to the director or deputy director,” said James Davidson, a former bureau official. “That speaks volumes about Patel’s fragility.”
Officials appointed by President Trump have already tightened their grip on the FBI, forcing some employees to resign or placing others on administrative leave due to previous investigations that had clashed with conservatives. Others, however, have left the bureau fearing that Patel or Bongino might somehow target them for conducting legitimate investigations into Trump or his supporters.
Although courts generally do not consider polygraphs admissible, national security agencies use them extensively in investigations and background checks for security clearances.
Under Patel’s leadership, the FBI used polygraphs extremely aggressively. Many of the employees who were asked to take the test saw their colleagues fired during an initial purge by the administration, while others were subsequently expelled or demoted. In at least one case, the FBI placed an agent on administrative leave, then recalled him to take the test.
Many also speculated that the question to employees regarding if they had said anything negative about Mr. Patel may have been designed as a so-called control question.
