FBI puts its own employees to lie detector tests

The FBI has always used "lie detector tests to try to identify employees in its ranks who might betray their country or who are suspected of being untrustworthy" and unable to keep secrets, The New York Times points out .

But since Patel took over as director, the Federal Bureau of Investigation "has significantly intensified and expanded its use of polygraph tests," sometimes subjecting its staff to extremely specific questions, such as "whether any of them harbor critical opinions about their boss, Patel," the New York daily continues.

This widespread use of lie detectors within the FBI and the inquisitorial questions posed to its personnel are part of the crackdown on leaks of information from the FBI and reflect the acute awareness of its boss, Kash Patel, of his public image.

This practice is denounced by former FBI agents as a form of political witch hunt, a totally disproportionate demand for loyalty “leaving no room for dissent.”

According to these former officials, simply denigrating Kash Patel or his deputy, Dan Bongino, could lead to dismissal. However, as former agent James Davidson, who has 23 years with the company, notes in the newspaper's columns:

“An FBI employee owes a duty of loyalty to the Constitution, not to the Bureau Director or his deputy.”

This practice also has deleterious consequences for the internal working environment and comes after waves of more or less voluntary departures and dismissals within the FBI since Donald Trump took office.

Many of the employees invited to take the polygraph test saw some of their immediate colleagues eliminated in an initial purge, while others in their circle were pushed out or demoted. “In at least one case, the Bureau put one of its agents on administrative leave, before ordering him to return for a polygraph test,” the New York Times noted.

Kash Patel and his deputy have undoubtedly tightened their grip on the FBI, forcing employees to leave, placing others on forced leave because of past investigations seen as damaging to conservatives and “the belief that the Bureau has been politically manipulated by Democrats,” the newspaper explains.

This targeting includes some of the most respected officials at the highest levels of the bureau. Others left on their own, fearing that the new leadership would retaliate against them for conducting investigations that Trump or his supporters disliked.