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> This as I'm getting ready to leave on my 12th deployment Unfortunately, people with far better credentials have been traitors and spies. Kim Philby, Aldrich

> This as I'm getting ready to leave on my 12th deployment Unfortunately, people with far better credentials have been traitors and spies. Kim Philby, Aldrich Ames, and Robert Hanssen come to mind. IIRC, at least one was even given a pass on his polygraph test because of his credentials. Recently, Michael Flynn was a Lt General, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and National Security Advisor (to be clear, he is convicted only of lying to the FBI, AFAIK). EDIT: Added to Flynn's credentials

iooi 8y ago
Yeah, and they were all caught during their polygraph interrogations right?
- forapurpose 8y ago
  As I said, I believe Ames or Hanssen was, but the subject was given a pass because of his credentials.
  - MrMorden 8y ago
    Hanssen never took a polygraph; Ames took many and passed them all. If there's even a single spy who was caught because of the polygraph, neither the US nor any other government using them has said so.
jerglingu 8y ago
The incredulity lays here: > tells me I'm being deceptive and obviously support jihadi terrorism. This as I'm getting ready to leave on my 12th deployment.
oldgradstudent 8y ago
Funny you should mention Aldrich Ames. The New York Times reported that: > Three years later, at the start of his career as a Russian mole, Aldrich Ames passed a Central Intelligence Agency lie detector test. In 1991, he passed another, even though he was on the agency's list of suspected moles and living at a level far above his $70,000 Government salary. Last summer, Dennis DeConcini, then chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, visited Mr. Ames in jail and asked how he passed the exams. "Well," Mr. Ames replied, "they don't work." https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/19/opinion/lie-detectors-lie-tell-the-cia.html https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/19/opinion/lie-detectors-lie... He also wrote a very interesting letter about polygraph testing: https://fas.org/sgp/othergov/polygraph/ames.html https://fas.org/sgp/othergov/polygraph/ames.html
- forapurpose 8y ago
  Interesting, thanks. Why was Ames given a pass on the other signs of risk? Because of his credentials?
  - oldgradstudent 8y ago
    It's been a few years since I've read a book on Ames, but as far as I recall he had some plausible deniability - he claimed the money came from his father in law. But if I recall correctly, he was also surprised it took so long.

iooi 8y ago

Yeah, and they were all caught during their polygraph interrogations right?

forapurpose 8y ago
As I said, I believe Ames or Hanssen was, but the subject was given a pass because of his credentials.
- MrMorden 8y ago
  Hanssen never took a polygraph; Ames took many and passed them all. If there's even a single spy who was caught because of the polygraph, neither the US nor any other government using them has said so.

jerglingu 8y ago

The incredulity lays here: > tells me I'm being deceptive and obviously support jihadi terrorism. This as I'm getting ready to leave on my 12th deployment.

oldgradstudent 8y ago

Funny you should mention Aldrich Ames. The New York Times reported that: > Three years later, at the start of his career as a Russian mole, Aldrich Ames passed a Central Intelligence Agency lie detector test. In 1991, he passed another, even though he was on the agency's list of suspected moles and living at a level far above his $70,000 Government salary. Last summer, Dennis DeConcini, then chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, visited Mr. Ames in jail and asked how he passed the exams. "Well," Mr. Ames replied, "they don't work." https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/19/opinion/lie-detectors-lie-tell-the-cia.html https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/19/opinion/lie-detectors-lie... He also wrote a very interesting letter about polygraph testing: https://fas.org/sgp/othergov/polygraph/ames.html https://fas.org/sgp/othergov/polygraph/ames.html

forapurpose 8y ago
Interesting, thanks. Why was Ames given a pass on the other signs of risk? Because of his credentials?
- oldgradstudent 8y ago
  It's been a few years since I've read a book on Ames, but as far as I recall he had some plausible deniability - he claimed the money came from his father in law. But if I recall correctly, he was also surprised it took so long.