Hacker News Reader

Comment by forapurpose | Hacker News Reader

> This as I'm getting ready to leave on my 12th deployment

Unfortunately, people with far better credentials have been traitors and spies. Kim Philby, Aldrich Ames, and Robert Hanssen come to mind. IIRC, at least one was even given a pass on his polygraph test because of his credentials. Recently, Michael Flynn was a Lt General, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and National Security Advisor (to be clear, he is convicted only of lying to the FBI, AFAIK).

EDIT: Added to Flynn's credentials

View on HN

Funny you should mention Aldrich Ames. The New York Times reported that:

> Three years later, at the start of his career as a Russian mole, Aldrich Ames passed a Central Intelligence Agency lie detector test. In 1991, he passed another, even though he was on the agency's list of suspected moles and living at a level far above his $70,000 Government salary. Last summer, Dennis DeConcini, then chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, visited Mr. Ames in jail and asked how he passed the exams. "Well," Mr. Ames replied, "they don't work."

https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/19/opinion/lie-detectors-lie...

He also wrote a very interesting letter about polygraph testing:

https://fas.org/sgp/othergov/polygraph/ames.html

Interesting, thanks.

Why was Ames given a pass on the other signs of risk? Because of his credentials?

It's been a few years since I've read a book on Ames, but as far as I recall he had some plausible deniability - he claimed the money came from his father in law.

But if I recall correctly, he was also surprised it took so long.

Yeah, and they were all caught during their polygraph interrogations right?

As I said, I believe Ames or Hanssen was, but the subject was given a pass because of his credentials.

Hanssen never took a polygraph; Ames took many and passed them all. If there's even a single spy who was caught because of the polygraph, neither the US nor any other government using them has said so.

The incredulity lays here:

> tells me I'm being deceptive and obviously support jihadi terrorism. This as I'm getting ready to leave on my 12th deployment.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com