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Aldrich Ames: Separated Spy

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-Aldrich Ames was quoted as saying, “There's no special magic in passing lie detector tests, he shrugged. Confidence is what does it. Confidence and a friendly relationship with the examiner... rapport, where you smile and you make him think that you like him.'' ("Ames: Separated Spy, Agent Lives," 1994) This was Aldrich Ames quote when asked about taking polygraphs as a CIA employee after he was arrested for being a spy for Russia in 1994. The following information will discuss a case study that was done on the polygraph testing of Aldrich Ames during the investigation to find a spy within the Central Intelligence Agency. Also, I will discuss my own experience taking two counterintelligence polygraph exams while I was working as a Department …show more content…

The CIA launched an internal investigation and determined there was a spy within the agency. The list of potential spies was narrowed down to 28 likely people based on the access they had to certain sensitive information. ("Aldrich Hazen Ames," 2010) Aldrich Ames was polygraph tested in 1986 and again in 1991 passing both times on a second attempt 4 days later. ("The People of the CIA ... Ames Mole Hunt Team," 2013) The thing that jumps out to me most is the fact that the examiner was friendly and very accommodating. Based on my own experience and the severity of what they were investigating I would prefer that the examiner would have been cold and business like. The examiner asked a question using the word deliberately which to me left Aldrich a way out of the question. …show more content…

I prefer the positive polygraph versus the criminal investigation version. In January 2008, I was hired as a Senior Electronic Warfare Technician with CACI inc. which is a big defense contractor based in Virginia. The contract I was supporting fell under Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM). The position I was hired for was based out of Baghdad, Iraq and required a Top Secret clearance with SCI access and a counterintelligence (CI) polygraph. There was a two week onboarding process that took place in Springfield, VA and part of that process involved going to Fort Meade, MD home of the National Security Agency (NSA) to take a CI polygraph. Unlike Aldrich Ames, I was very nervous as soon as I found out I would be taking a polygraph. I was nervous because of the unknown not nervous because I had anything to hide. The actual polygraph itself I won’t go into any specific questions that were asked or any explicit details but a general overview of the

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