Chasing Proof, Finding Faith by Tom Rudelius

Author:Tom Rudelius [Rudelius, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: RELIGION / Religion & Science, SCIENCE / Space Science / Cosmology
ISBN: 9781496471833
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Published: 2023-08-08T00:00:00+00:00

[1] NIV.

22

YOU MIGHT BE WONDERING whatever became of my time with the NSA. This was a journey on its own.

After I failed the first day of polygraph testing, they invited me back for a second one. I promptly failed it as well.

They invited me back for a third try. I failed that one as well. However, I did manage to pass the first four questions—they were now convinced I wasn’t a terrorist—so I no longer had to answer those four, but I was still having trouble with the character-related ones—especially the one on “serious crimes.” Whenever they asked that question, I could not keep my brain from dwelling on all the little, dishonest things I had done.

A couple of times, my polygraphers seemed worried that I might just be a pathological liar; so they added ten more questions into the next run to test their suspicions. I seemed to do just as poorly on those questions as I did on the others, but I don’t think they gleaned any useful information from that. Evidently, they still couldn’t tell if I was a liar or just a kid who was really bad at polygraphs.

Believe it or not, they invited me back for a fourth session. This goes to show how unreliable the test is. Even after three failures, each one involving a handful of tests, they still weren’t convinced I was lying. The most NSA polygraphs I ever heard of someone failing was eight, and that person was finally awarded a security clearance after the eighth attempt. But I was only applying for a summer internship, which meant I had a deadline. If I couldn’t pass by the start of the program in late May, I was out of luck.

I had some very strange conversations with the polygraphers. Once, when the tester was out of the room, I started thinking about an episode of the show Arrested Development, which made me start laughing. When she returned, she was as furious as I had ever seen—which is saying something.

“I want to know what’s so funny that every time I leave the room, you start laughing? Is this a joke to you?”

I sheepishly told her I was laughing about a television episode I liked. That same woman also yelled at me for throwing my pen up in the air and catching it—a long-held nervous habit of mine.

Another polygrapher, after a long discussion and subsequent angry rant, grabbed a small piece of paper, drew a dot in the center, and stuck it on the wall in front of me with a pushpin.

“What’s that?” he demanded.

Is this a trick question?

“It’s a dot,” I said.

“Yes, it’s a dot,” he fumed. “Stare at it.” And he fired up the polygraph for another run.

They were convinced I was hiding something major about my sex life. No, once again, I’m not gay. No, I’ve never committed bestiality. No, I’ve never watched child pornography. No, I’ve never sold pornography. In fact, I’ve never even bought it.

“Oh, so you illegally downloaded it?” The polygrapher reached for a pen and pad of paper, suddenly intrigued.

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