(Adnkronos) – Since Kash Patel took over as director of the FBI last February, the agency has significantly increased its use of lie detector tests, normally reserved for cases of employees who may have betrayed their country or have proven unreliable in handling confidential information. The ‘New York Times’ writes about it, citing in particular two sources according to which several people subjected to the test were asked if they had ever discredited Patel himself, that is, if they had said anything negative about him.
Dozens of officials were asked to take the polygraph, the newspaper writes, specifying that it is not clear how many were specifically questioned about Patel. One of the cases in which the lie detector was used concerned the disclosure to the media of Patel’s request to have a service weapon, an unusual request as he is not an operative agent.
For some former Bureau officials, it reads, these are highly inappropriate practices, which reveal a worrying demand for dedication to the FBI, with minimal tolerance for dissent: denigrating Patel or his deputy, according to these sources, could cost several people their jobs. “An FBI employee’s loyalty is to the Constitution, not to the director or deputy director,” said James Davidson, a former agent who spent 23 years in the Bureau. (continued)
Before this further tightening, however, the beneficiaries of Trump’s political appointments had already strengthened their grip on the agency, forcing some employees to resign and placing others on administrative leave due to previous investigations. The list has grown to include some of the most respected officials at the top of the Bureau.
Others left, fearing retaliation from Patel or Bongino for conducting legitimate investigations that Trump or his supporters did not like. The top agents of about 40% of the field offices have retired, been ousted or changed jobs, according to sources familiar with the New York Times, which began tracking turnover with the new administration taking office.
Although courts generally do not consider lie detector tests admissible, national security agencies use them extensively in investigations and background checks for clearances involving multiple levels of security. Under Patel and Bongino’s leadership, however, the Bureau has used the polygraph extremely aggressively. In at least one case, the FBI placed an agent on administrative leave and then called him back to take the test, according to a source close to the matter. (continued)
This is one of the measures adopted by the FBI that some current and former officials describe as vindictive and extreme, a tool that fuels distrust and suspicion among colleagues. And this even if – as former polygraph operators quoted by the newspaper explain – the question posed to employees about whether they had said anything negative about Patel was intended as a so-called control question, a question asked to elicit certain physiological responses in order to compare them with a participant’s responses to other questions. Whatever the reason behind this question, its use is fueling suspicions and fears of a politicized FBI.
Michael Feinberg, a top agent at the Norfolk, Virginia field office until last spring, was threatened with a lie detector test because of his friendship with Peter Strzok, a counterintelligence veteran fired for sending derogatory text messages about Trump. Strzok played a central role in the FBI’s investigation into whether Trump campaign aides conspired with Russia in the 2016 presidential election and is on Patel’s so-called enemies list, published in his book “Government Gangsters.” It is unclear how FBI leadership became aware of this friendship.
Feinberg recounted on the national security blog Lawfare how Dominique Evans, the new top agent in charge of the Norfolk office, told him that he would be “asked to take a polygraph examination to verify the nature of my friendship with Pete.” “Under Patel and Bongino, specialized and operational expertise is easily sacrificed in the name of ideological purity and politicization of the workforce,” he wrote. To keep his job, Mr. Feinberg would have had to “humble himself, beg forgiveness and swear allegiance as part of the FBI’s cultural revolution, sparked by the rise of Patel and Bongino to the top of American law enforcement and intelligence.” Feinberg resigned.
