US embassy cable - 04BOGOTA3618

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 
 
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Summary 
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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. 
 
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The Offended Fiscalia Employees' Grievances 
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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. 
 
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A Misunderstood Process 
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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