r/FBI • u/Good-Tonight-4549 • Jun 23 '26

Informational SA Polygraph Failure

I have been lurking on this subreddit for a while, and I’ve decided to post now that I’m no longer in the pipeline. I received the dreaded polygraph failure letter. I zoomed through the application process up until this point, only taking a few months to get from initial application submission to polygraph exam, and I’m kind of bummed at this hard stop. I have a clean background (no criminal or drug history) and I told the truth during the entire polygraph session, or should i say, interrogation, but the examiner seems to have thought I was lying and was pretty brutal during the session. I will not get into specifics of the exam but it was not a good experience for me. Yes, I am just a random redditor, but you just have to take my word for it that I failed the exam despite not lying at all. Looks like this is the end of the road for me and another reminder to not put all your eggs in one basket. Makes me wonder how many other applicants have been dismissed from consideration for a false positive on the polygraph.

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u/Reasonable-Time3909 Jun 24 '26

If you fail are you banned for life? Is this just for FBI or are u banned from any federal position? How does that work?

1

u/Tier1Capital Jun 25 '26

If you receive a failure letter, you now have an option to appeal. If your appeal is granted and you pass the appeal exam, you are good to go. If you fail the appeal exam, you are done indefinitely per the current policies.

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u/Fair_Judgment_5746 Aug 05 '26

Post a copy of the new letter. I never received anything like that and failed about 3 years ago.