Whistleblower: DEA hired agents despite failed polygraphs

The Drug Enforcement Administration has allowed dozens of job applicants to become special agents and perform other work despite failing lie detector tests during the hiring process, according to a new federal watchdog report, which describes the agency’s polygraph unit as facing pressure to pass “legacy” candidates related to senior officials.

Details of the report, issued Wednesday by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General, were independently verified by the Los Angeles Times based on court documents obtained from a whistleblower case filed by a former member of the DEA polygraph unit.

Beyond special treatment to friends and family members of DEA officials, the whistleblower has said agency bosses ignored admissions of criminal behavior that should have been reported for further investigation, including a case in which a job applicant “admitted to pedophilic tendencies” during a polygraph exam.

The whistleblower asked not to be identified because of pending litigation and referred questions to an attorney. The whistleblower said supervisors were alerted in 2018 after an applicant discussed “pedophilic impulses toward his own daughter and other children.” But the whistleblower was told “there was nothing that could be done,” and that there would be liability for making an anonymous complaint to local law enforcement or social services.

The candidate was not hired, and the matter was eventually reported to the DEA’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which investigates misconduct by employees, documents say.

A DEA spokesperson said the agency “continues to implement best practices in hiring to ensure that all DEA employees uphold the values of our organization, exemplify integrity and — above all — protect the safety and health of all Americans.”

Polygraph exams are typically not admissible in court proceedings, but they are a standard hiring practice among federal law enforcement agencies and for national security clearances. The tests rely on background information provided by the applicant and interrogation by the examiner, who monitors the subject’s physiological responses and behavior.

In another case described in the Office of the Inspector General report, a DEA job applicant undergoing a lie detector test in December 2017 “admitted to engaging in inappropriate behavior while a juvenile with a younger juvenile.” The examiner stopped the test, the report said, and yet “the DEA’s hiring panel was told, incorrectly, that the applicant passed the polygraph examination.” That person, according to the report, joined the DEA in 2019 and is employed as a special agent.

In a letter sent to DEA Administrator Anne Milgram on Tuesday, the Office of the Inspector General said it had “identified numerous concerns,” including the use of loopholes to avoid complying with a policy enacted in 2019 that specifically bars the agency from hiring applicants who fail a polygraph or show signs of “countermeasures” to cheat the test.

The Office of the Inspector General said it identified 77 people, nearly all prospective special agents, who were hired after the 2019 changes despite producing questionable polygraph results. To make the hires, the report said, the DEA argued that the applications were “associated with an older job announcement predating the policy change.” Those applicants were required only to “complete” — not necessarily pass — the test, the agency said.

An additional 43 people were hired despite showing red flags, the report said, because the DEA said their exams were conducted before the new rules took effect.

A written DEA response included in the federal watchdog report said the agency no longer hires applicants for certain positions if they have not “fully completed” a polygraph or received an unfavorable result. The 77 people who were already hired “had no disqualifying admissions” during their polygraph exams, the agency said.