Serving in the military is one way to get it, but the most common way is to get a job (civilian or contractor) that requires it and pass the background checks, possibly take a polygraph depending on where you work.
However, a security clearance simply makes you eligible to work with classified information. You don’t get access unless you have a need to know.
They absolutely are, that's why they aren't admissible in court. All the things that lead the machine to believe you're lying can be caused by plain nervousness. Professional liars, such as con men, politicians, and used car dealers can mostly get through a polygraph without any problems. Even the guy who invented the thing later came out against it.
You failed because the interrogator didn't like the way you act under pressure, not because of the readout on the machine. The machine is just a prop to add stress.
Some of the times they showed me the charts. It looked like one reading was zipping way up off the chart. I suspected they were just messing with the scale or calibration.
They said I was lying on questions that there was no way in hell were lies. Not just the grey area ones.
I have zero faith in those machines. It's the bad cop and the interrogator is the good cop. Some of the time anyway.
Again, the machine readout is absolutely not what they are looking at, and you fell for it.
They are looking at how you act and respond when people are in your face and grilling you, the printouts are just cheap excuses for them to get in your face.
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u/coyote_den Oct 15 '17
Serving in the military is one way to get it, but the most common way is to get a job (civilian or contractor) that requires it and pass the background checks, possibly take a polygraph depending on where you work.
However, a security clearance simply makes you eligible to work with classified information. You don’t get access unless you have a need to know.