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When President Ronald Reagan’s White House threatened thousands of government officials with polygraph exams, supposedly to protect classified data (but probably also to control press leaks), his Secretary of State George Shultz threatened to resign.

Reagan’s White House backed down and agreed to impose the tests only for those suspected of espionage, according to a 1985 New York Times report.

In terms of catching spies, polygraph tests failed spectacularly in key moments. More on that in a moment.

First, consider the second Trump administration, which is leaning in on polygraphs, presumably to ferret out leakers, but also as an apparent method of int

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