(TheLastPatriotNews.com) – A US Justice Department watchdog has found that dozens of individuals have been hired by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) even though they were caught lying on their “lie detector” tests.
A report by the DOJ Office of Inspector General issued a report on Wednesday informing that 77 DEA employees were hired even though they had gotten a “significant response” on their polygraph tests.
The result shows that an applicant “indicated deception while answering the same question several times,” The Washington Times reports.
It notes that polygraph tests help assess candidates’ character and whether they pose national security risks. They feature questions about drug use, criminal activity, paperwork truthfulness, and national security issues.
The 77 agents the DEA hired after they lied during testing include 66 special agents and 11 intelligence research specialists.
According to agency policy, candidates showing a “significant response” in polygraph tests should be immediately disqualified from DEA jobs for three years.
“The DEA unnecessarily assumes the risk that inevitably comes with law enforcement officers potentially unsuitable for this important role, which could include the potential for intentional and unintentional compromise of sensitive DEA operations and jeopardize the public’s trust,” points out the report of the DOJ Inspector General.
The report notes the revelation comes at a challenging moment for the agency attempting to counter a record influx of drugs nationwide, primarily through the Southern Border.
The DEA has captured 46.4 million fentanyl-laced pills this year after seizing a record 58.3 million pills in 2022.
Because of the spike in drugs, the agency has been hiring thousands of extra special agents.
Some of the cases exposed by the watchdog report show polygraph tests mistakenly marked as complete or interrupted due to “significant responses,” with the applicants still getting hired.
“We continue to have concerns with the DEA’s efforts to efficiently and effectively ensure applications have completed a full-scope polygraph as required by DEA policy,” the report declared.
A DEA response accompanying the report disputed the findings that the lie detector tests were “inaccurate or incomplete.” Still, its acting chief compliance officer, Michael Ciminelli, said there was a new policy to guarantee no one would be hired after scoring a “significant response.”
