David Kirk fue piloto de la infantería de marina con acceso a información altamente confidencial y acostumbrado a misiones secretas. Estaba en la cabina cuando el presidente George W. Bush, el vicepresidente Dick Cheney y el senador Joe Biden sobrevolaron la capital en un helicóptero.

Con ese tipo de antecedentes, Kirk no lo podía creer cuando no pudo pasar un detector de mentiras al postularse para un puesto en la Oficina de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza, que custodia los 9.600 kilómetros (6.000 millas) de frontera con México y Canadá. Después de dos tensas sesiones con el polígrafo que duraron ocho horas entre ambas, Kirk se fue a su casa “con el rabo entre las piernas”, preguntándose qué fue lo que no funcionó, según dijo.

Dos de cada tres aspirantes a cargos en esa dependencia, conocida por sus siglas en inglés, CBP, no pasa el control poligráfico, según el organismo. Eso es más del doble que el promedio en otras agencias del gobierno que suministraron la información a la Associated Press.

Y es una de las principales razones por la que aproximadamente 2.000 plazas de la dependencia policial más grande del país no están cubiertas. La Patrulla de Fronteras, que es parte de la CBP, tiene menos de 20.000 agentes por primera vez desde el 2009.

Y hay quienes se preguntan si hay alguna falla en la forma en que se hacen los exámenes con el detector de mentiras.

El comisionado (director) del CBP Gil Kerlikowske dijo que el promedio de personas que no pasan el examen es demasiado alto, pero lo atribuye a que la agencia no atrae el tipo de postulantes que busca. Kerlikowske y otros expertos en la materia dicen que los polígrafos generalmente cumplen su propósito, que es combatir las coimas y otras formas de corrupción.

Pero otros, incluidos abogados, dirigentes sindicales y expertos en poligrafía, afirman que los detectores de mentiras están siendo mal usados y que muchos candidatos son sometidos a interrogatorios inusualmente largos y hostiles, que pueden hacer que alguien parezca estar mintiendo cuando en realidad dice la verdad.

El senador Jeff Flake dice que sospecha que el personal del CBP que toma los exámenes rechaza a los postulantes para justificar su trabajo. Y que esos candidatos quedan marcados y les costará conseguir trabajo en otras dependencias del gobierno.

“No parece haber una buena explicación. Escuchamos tantas historias que pareciera como que se ha generado la impresión de que una cierta cantidad (de postulantes) debe ser rechazada”, manifestó. “Es irritante que se someta a la gente a ese trato”.

El inspector general del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional dijo en diciembre que estaba analizando la efectividad de los exámenes poligráficos del CBP. Las dificultades para contratar gente son tan grandes que la Patrulla Fronteriza hace poco le pidió al Congreso que le dé otros fines al dinero asignado a 300 plazas porque no podía cubrirlas. Esto hace pensar que al presidente electo Donald Trump le costará bastante añadir otros 5.000 agentes, como ha prometido hacer.

In December, the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general said it was reviewing whether CBP’s polygraphs are effective in hiring. The hiring difficulties have become so acute that the Border Patrol recently took the unusual step of asking Congress to use money earmarked for 300 jobs for other purposes. That raises doubts about President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to add 5,000 agents.

Taking a polygraph became a hiring requirement at CBP in 2012 after a huge hiring surge led to more agents getting arrested for misconduct.

James Tomsheck said that when he was CBP’s chief of internal affairs from 2006 to 2014, about 30 applicants admitted during the lie detector test that they were sent by drug cartels; one said he killed his infant son.

One applicant revealed his brother-in-law wanted him to smuggle cocaine on the job, and another said he used marijuana 9,000 times, including the night before his test, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Interviews with six applicants who failed to clear the polygraph fit a pattern: The examiner abruptly changes tone, leveling accusations of lying or holding something back. The job-seeker denies it and the questioning goes in circles for hours. Some are invited for a second visit, which ends no differently.

Luis Granado applied to the Border Patrol in 2014 with military experience and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona. His father is an agent, and Granado used to proudly try on the badge as a boy.

“This was my dream job,” said Granado, 31, who is now a full-time Air Force reservist in Tucson, Arizona. “I wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps forever.”

He said the examiner scolded him for answers that were “too emphatic, too fast” and told him to stop grinding his teeth.

Granado said the examiner was troubled by an admission that he cheated on a test in high school. When he denied ever belonging to a cartel or terrorist group, the examiner stopped and said, “Well, I think you’re being deceptive,” according to Granado. After two sessions that lasted a total of 12 hours, his conditional job offer was rescinded.

CBP declined to comment on individual cases.

CBP’s Kerlikowske put the agency’s polygraph failure rate at about 65 percent. The AP asked law enforcement agencies across the country for two years of lie-detector data for job applicants, including police departments in the nation’s 10 largest cities and in major towns along the Mexican border. The eight that supplied numbers showed an average failure rate of 28 percent.

Tomsheck said that when he was CBP’s internal affairs chief, other federal agencies, including the FBI and Secret Service, had failure rates of less than 35 percent. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the only federal agency that supplied data to the AP, failed 36 percent in the last two years.

Mark Handler, editor in chief of the American Polygraph Association, said failure rates of about 30 percent are typical in law enforcement hiring.

Kerlikowske explained that the agency isn’t getting the applicants it wants because the relatively new CBP, created in 2003, “doesn’t have a brand” and is unfamiliar to some.

Among other possible reasons offered by some experts for the agency’s failure rate: CBP may have higher standards than local departments, and it get less-experienced applicants who have never taken a lie detector before.

The duration of CBP’s testing strikes some experts as unusual.

“If there’s an exam that lasts four to eight hours, your polygrapher is either incompetent or a fool or both,” said Capt. Alan Hamilton, commanding officer of the Los Angeles Police Department’s recruitment and employment division. His department’s exams last no longer than 90 minutes.

Handler said prolonged, accusatory interviews can lead to failures for people who are telling the truth. Lie detectors measure blood pressure, sweating and breathing.

Polygraphs are generally not admissible in court, and federal law bars private employers from using them to hire. The military doesn’t use them to screen enlistees, and some law enforcement agencies don’t use them in hiring, including the New York Police Department, U.S. Marshals Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

CBP, under pressure to hire, recently loosened standards on previous marijuana use and, under a law that took effect in December, can waive polygraphs for veterans with top-secret clearances.

Kirk, 47, of Friendswood, Texas, applied to CBP in 2013 after 20 years as a Marine officer and calls it one of the worst experiences of his life. In the Marines, “one of our biggest mantras is our honesty and integrity,” he said. “Someone calling me a liar, I take it very personally.”

During the 2013 polygraph exams, he said, he was accused of cheating on his wife and mishandling classified information and was told he acted like a drug trafficker trying to infiltrate the agency. Kirk vehemently denies the allegations.

The accusation of marital infidelity “almost made me want to jump across the desk,” said the father of four. He told the examiner that he tried marijuana in college and says the biggest mark on his record is a speeding ticket.

“They treated me like a criminal,” said Kirk, now a private pilot. “I don’t know who was better qualified than me to fill this position.”

Fuente: AP