[Paladin2b]

People need to remember, the reason polygraph results aren't admissible in court is because they don't "measure" the "truth"...they measure bodily reactions. The body's reactions change under the stress of media attention, etc, and so the test results change. False results happen far more often than most lay people realize: a lot of otherwise fine applicants for positions as FBI special agents get dinged because they get nervous during the polygraph exam even though they haven't done anything illegal. Even the Bureau recognizes that this has become a problem.

[GrandEagle]

False results happen far more often than most lay people realize
I don't know about how much they are wrong, bit I know that for me, it was totally wrong.
I was in tactical missiles and we had a guidance unit that was damaged and a classified part was missing. I, unfortunately, signed off the previous evenings post flight inspection paperwork. All was well when I left the shop at 11pm. When I returned the next afternoon around 2:30pm for my shift, the missile was cordoned off in one of the bays and we were told to stay away from it. There was even a SP stationed to "guard" it.
Not only did I have no knowledge of how or when it was damaged, to this day I only have their word that it actually WAS damaged. (And that of the shop chief - my boss) I never even saw it after the post flight inspection.
The "inspector" from OSI showed me the chart where I failed when asked if I had any knowledge of who broke it or how it was broken.

No sir, saying someone passed or failed a polygraph has the same significance to me as telling me someone started walking this morning with their left foot, not their right.
It has no meaning at all.