The problem with polygraph tests is that they measure stress, not deception: U.S. strips intelligence analyst of security clearance but won't say why

The problem with polygraph tests is that they measure stress, not deception. It's reasonable that this man would become stressed when asked questions about an incident years ago in which the Defense Department itself agreed that he was falsely accused.

"That whole thing in Syria was such an assault on John's honor," she said. "That's why it got him so viscerally. It was an attack on his person. It has festered for 20 years. And I think he was re-experiencing it all when he was sitting in the chair" for the polygraph.

U.S. strips intelligence analyst of security clearance and job but won't say why
By Peter Finn
Washington Post Staff Writer
November 27, 2010

Dullahan's case, which suggests the government believes he poses a grave threat to national security, is all the stranger because his wife continues to work at the DIA as a supervisor with access to what the government calls "Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information."

"I have access to the crown jewels," JoAnn Dullahan said…

Dullahan says the root of his current problems may lie in Damascus.
In 1985, he began three six-month rotations through Syria, Lebanon and Egypt while assigned to the U.N. Truce Supervision Organization.

At the time, he socialized with some Soviet officers, and on one occasion with a Soviet diplomat, he said. A German friend who visited him in Damascus spoke Russian with some Soviets at one social function.

One of Dullahan's fellow officers found it all suspicious and reported him to the defense attache at the U.S. Embassy. Called in, Dullahan was questioned about his contacts, as well as about his time stationed in Germany and a visit to East Germany, he said.

The defense attache said that Dullahan's German friend was a spy and that he was being groomed for recruitment. Hanging in the air, Dullahan said, was the suggestion that he had already crossed over...

The matter was dismissed when Dullahan's commanding officer flew in and backed him.

But Dullahan's wife believes that her husband was traumatized and permanently marked by the experience.

"That whole thing in Syria was such an assault on John's honor," she said. "That's why it got him so viscerally. It was an attack on his person. It has festered for 20 years. And I think he was re-experiencing it all when he was sitting in the chair" for the polygraph.

In February 2009, Dullahan was called down to a security office at work and placed on administrative leave. The next month, he said, he was called back in and offered the opportunity to leave quietly with retirement benefits. If he refused and challenged his firing, he said that he was told the alternative was no retirement and termination on national security grounds.

Dullahan said he was told that he had to make a decision before leaving. After consulting with his wife, he refused.

"I said I wouldn't accept if it was a million a month," said Dullahan, his voice breaking. "I saw it not just as a job but a calling, as an officer and at DIA. And regardless of the outcome I will remain a devoted, loyal American."