DHS administering lie detector tests to employees in effort to find leakers

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CBS News

March 8, 2025 / 7:37 PM EST


The Department of Homeland Security is administering polygraph tests to its personnel to determine who may be leaking information to the media about its ongoing immigration raids, an agency spokesperson confirmed to CBS News Saturday.

On Feb. 18, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said DHS would start polygraphing employees in order to crack down on these leaks.

In a video posted to social media Friday, Noem wrote that the department had "identified two leakers of information here at the Department of Homeland Security who have been telling individuals about our operations and putting law enforcement lives in jeopardy. We plan to prosecute these two individuals and hold them accountable for what they've done."

The polygraph tests have been taking place for about three weeks, the DHS spokesperson told CBS News. It's unclear how many employees have undergone them. Since January, the White House has been aggressive in its efforts to fulfill President Trump's campaign vow of cracking down on illegal immigration and enacting mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dhs-lie-detector-tests-employees-leakers-immigration-raids/

[AmericaUnderSiege]

1. LMAO. Start weighing ducks next. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Hopefully they realize their bosses have retroactively switched sides in WW2.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. ...

(IMHO, the best performance throughout that whole movie was Fred MacMurray's!)

[OldBaldy1701E]

29. Yep!

And, when you look at the cast, that is saying something! He stole that film!

They were all great in this film. It is one of my absolute favorites of all time.

[NotHardly]

9. Those tests are notoriously unreliable.

Years ago, I saw a guy interrogate a potted plant ... the results said the plant was lying.

https://www.scienceofpeople.com/lie-detector-test/

[multigraincracker]

2. Demand Norm take one. Sounds fair to me.

[LiberalArkie]

4. They should have been doing it during the Obama admin. "Have you ever had the desire to overthrow the U.S. Government?"

[AmericaUnderSiege]

17. Polygraphs don't work though.

Especially against psychopaths. They'll tell you their mother was a spider and the needle won't budge. Republican apparatchiks to a tee.

[LiberalArkie]

19. It would have probably caught the ones that did the J6. Sure you can lie as long as you can keep your BP and HR and

other things under control. But I do not think the nuts at the J6 party would have been able to.

[AmericaUnderSiege]

20. J6 were a stochastic terrorist mob.

It's one of those "budget conscious" things Republicans always bitching about. They don't need to send their precious little mercenary enforcers after Americans, they can just send a tweet and have morons commit felonies in their name.

[johnnyfins]

5. I said it before

It will be especially gratifying when Noem implodes.

[johnnyfins]

6. They didnt get any leakers

She is a complete horseshitter. Just like TSF.

[johnnyfins]

7. I know why Noem makes me especially

Nauseous. I think she ENJOYS the cruelty. The worst Nazis were the ones who actually enjoyed what they were doing.

[Martin68]

8. Sounds like a great deal of wasted money. What a shitshow.

[JohnnyRingo]

10. "Democracy Dies In Darkness"

Noem wants Homeland Security to act from behind a Kevlar Kurtain, a bureaucratic black hole from which no information can escape.
Then, and only then, can the department work completely without judicial or congressional oversight.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

11. Big news here in South Dakota...

... not sure if the national press has been reporting it:

"Noem’s credit card records, revealing over $600,000 in charges for high-end hotels, vehicle rentals, and meals, were made public after she resigned to join President Donald Trump’s cabinet — far outpacing her predecessor Dennis Daugaard."

https://www.gowatertown.net/former-gov-noem-rolled-up-600k-in-credit-card-bills-before-leaving-office/]

"Since KELOLAND News is just beginning to review the documents, this first report is limited in its scope, zeroing in only on lodging for one of Noem’s trips. Additional reporting will publish in the coming days."

https://www.keloland.com/news/local-news/records-reveal-noems-state-credit-card-spending/

]

"PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Family members of South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem received more than $600,000 in funds from a state grant program pushed by the governor that directed federal coronavirus relief funds to small businesses."

https://apnews.com/article/business-small-business-south-dakota-coronavirus-pandemic-kristi-noem-cd19956faf1a20de3890b9638f5605a1

[johnnyfins]

13. Wow! Noem is cruel AND corrupt????

No wonder TSF loves her so much.

[Martin68]

12. Leakers have not put enforcement lives in jeopardy. Random and haphazard firing of enforcement officials has put

enforcement gives at risk. Publishing the names and information about national security personnel by DOGE has put national security at risk.

[johnnyfins]

14. Good news is that there will ALWAYS be

Leakers. Impossible to stop. Especially when your policies go against the constitution and basic human rights/empathy.

[mdbl]

15. First people on the lie dectector should be Musk and Big Balls

to see what they are really doing with our information.

[MadameButterfly]

22. i think they might pass because you have to have a conscience

and/or shame or expect the law to apply. to you to be nervous

[Grins]

16. Who WOULDN'T want to work here!!!

Good Luck hiring anyone to work for the government ever again!!

[Don1]

18. This is a HUGE deal and let me explain why...

Most people know that polygraphs are notoriously unreliable and cannot be used in court, but that isn't the problem. Most of the time that they do not work well it is because of the sensitivity of the tests. Anything that triggers a person emotionally and/or makes them feel guilty could show up in the tests because of this kind of false positive error.

Imagine an employee is asked if they had ever leaked anything, but there was one time they thought that what they were doing was following a questionable order and merely thought about blowing the whistle. This could show up in a polygraph. But it's far more broad than that--many other things could evoke an emotional and guilty feeling depending on the person and situation, from voting once for a Democrat and not telling co-workers, to disliking some of Noem's or Trump's policies to strongly disagreeing with something their manager said that morning.

What happens next is the polygraph administrator will ask the employee what they were thinking about at the time or if there is anything to confess. The employee then might spill the beans like "Okay, I admit it. This time I didn't vote for Trump" or "One time I thought about blowing the whistle because I had to separate a child from their parents" or "I personally know a news reporter."

Doing these confessions can then cause the employee to pass the test in another attempt or they could simply continue to fail because of the sensitivity problem. Either way, this results in a lot of new information about the employee.

What do the managers, Noem, and/or Trump do with this information next now that they know? Does the employee get fired for "performance" reasons?

What would be the end result: storm troopers with no consciences? only completely loyal MAGAs?

[MadameButterfly]

23. A lot of people would fail nowdays because of the stress

of living under Trump, jobs at risk, finances at risk for many reasons, loyalty tests, democracy at risk, etc.
I'm suspect I'd fail a polygraph test no matter what you ask me. And from any of those Nazis? Guaranteed fail.

[DFW]

21. And since those things are not 100% reliable

They might catch a leaker or two, and they could just as easily end up tossing out an innocent true believer Trumpanzee who can't believe the system betrayed him.

So, go ahead, polygraph everyone, and be just as wise as you were before.

[4catsmom]

24. bunch of freaks

there are ways to beat the polygraph test

[Mosby]

25. Polygraph tests don't work

Last edited Sun Mar 9, 2025, 09:04 PM - Edit history (1)

It's pseudoscience.

Eta - it's really remarkable how much power ideas can have. Machine assisted lie detection is a perfect example.

Do people still believe in "truth serum"?

[Traildogbob]

26. If ANY

Trump appointee gets within 100 yards of a lie detector test machine it will blow up. Especially this dog killing freak. Did she eat it??? Or was she gonna pay her immigrate workers with the meat?

[sakabatou]

27. They do know lie-detector tests are inadmissible in court, right? Right?

[eppur_se_muova]

28. I thought we already knew it was Dick Cheney and his friends at the Saudi Embassy ?? nt