Gatekeeper

by Sullivan, John F.

• ISBN13: 9781597970457
• ISBN10: 159797045X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-07-22
• Publisher: Potomac Books Inc

Summary

John F. Sullivan was a polygraph examiner with the CIA for thirty-one years, during which time he conducted more tests than anyone in the history of the CIA's program. The lie detectors act as the Agency's gatekeepers, preventing foreign agents, unsuitable applicants, and employees guilty of misconduct from penetrating or harming the Agency. Here Sullivan describes his methods, emphasizing the importance of psychology and the examiners' skills in a successful polygraph program. Sullivan acknowledges that using the polygraph effectively is an art as much as a science, yet he convincingly argues that it remains a highly reliable screening device, more successful and less costly than the other primary method, background investigation. In the thousands of tests that Sullivan conducted, he discovered double agents, applicants with criminal backgrounds, and employee misconduct, including compromising affairs and the mishandling of classified information. But Gatekeeperis more than Sullivan's memoirs. It is also a window to the often acrimonious and sometimes alarming internal politics of the CIA: the turf wars over resources, personnel, and mandate; the slow implementation of quality control; the aversion to risk-taking; and the overzealous pursuit of disqualifying information. In an age when the intelligence community's conduct is rightly being questioned, Sullivan contributes a fascinating personal account of one of the Agency's many important tasks.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Author's Note	p. ix
Glossary	p. xi
Introduction: The Art of the Polygraph	p. 1
The Path Less Traveled	p. 11
In the Beginning	p. 15
The Crawford Era	p. 19
First Impressions	p. 25
A New Day	p. 49
Hard (But Exciting) Times	p. 63
Respite	p. 75
The New Breed	p. 93
The Era of Good Feeling	p. 127
Coming of Age	p. 149
Bad Apples	p. 163
Hits, Misses, and Distractions	p. 173
Aldrich Ames	p. 185
Twilight	p. 195
Out to Pasture	p. 227
Intelligence Community and 9/11	p. 241
Interrogation and Torture	p. 249
Epilogue	p. 261
Index	p. 265
About the Author	p. 273
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