ANTI-NARCOTICS UNIT MEMBERS OBJECT TO POLYGRAPHS

UNCLAS BOGOTA 003618 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL SNAR KJUS CO SUBJECT: ANTI-NARCOTICS UNIT MEMBERS OBJECT TO POLYGRAPHS -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) On April 4, Bogota's El Espectador newspaper published an article about complaints by members of the Fiscalia's Anti-Narcotics and Maritime Interdiction Unit (UNAIM) about polygraph exams recently administered by the FBI. The exams were mandated by Prosecutor General ("Fiscal General") Luis Camilo Osorio following allegations of corruption and collusion with criminal organizations in the Prosecutor General's Office ("Fiscalia"). The UNAIM members objected to personal questions and complained that examiners intimidated and pressured them. However, the professional FBI polygraphers used standard techniques ) the same as are used on FBI employees. End Summary. -------------- The Offended Fiscalia Employees' Grievances -------------- ¶2. (SBU) On April 4, Bogota's El Espectador newspaper published an article written by members of the Office of the Prosecutor General's ("Fiscalia") Anti-Narcotics and Maritime Interdiction Unit (UNAIM). The article, entitled "Secrets of the FBI Polygraph," painted a negative picture of recent FBI-administered polygraph exams administered to over 120 senior officials and members of USG-assisted units in the Fiscalia. In a letter to Prosecutor General Luis Camilo Osorio published alongside the article, the UNAIM members raised the following objections: (1) the polygraph exams were administered by a foreign government; (2) they were an invasion of privacy; (3) they violated individual rights, including the presumption of innocence; (4) they served to intimidate and threaten public servants; and (5) they lack scientific reliability. The employees expressed particular objections to alleged questions about drug and alcohol abuse and sexual conduct. According to FBI representatives at post, the Fiscalia employees' assertions are false on several counts, some of which are probably attributable to a lack of familiarity with polygraph exams. -------------- A Misunderstood Process -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Among the complaints raised by the Fiscalia employees were that polygraphers pried into their personal lives, were intimidating, and pressured them to provide answers to uncomfortable questions. In fact, the examiners used standard polygraph techniques, including asking a set of control questions, providing the questions to each individual prior to the exam to give them a chance to ask for clarifications, and interviewing individuals for 30 minutes before beginning the formal exam. Aside from questions about drug use while a government official, the examiners asked no embarrassing personal questions. The FBI rejects allegations that the polygraphers used intimidation tactics, threatened examinees, or harangued individuals until a specific response was elicited. As is standard practice, polygraphers may have been insistent on particular questions or sets of questions in order to: (1) evoke emotions that ensure proper readings by the polygraph machine, or (2) overcome inconclusive readings. If an individual test was inconclusive, the polygrapher asked more questions until getting a definitive reading. Some test-takers may have misunderstood this standard practice. WOOD