To prove their full loyalty to their boss, appointed by Donald Trump, FBI agents are now massively subject to polygraph tests, reveals the New York Times.
Under the chairmanship of Kash Patel, the atmosphere within the FBI was radically hardened. Faithful ally of Donald Trump, the new director of the federal agency leads an internal control policy pushed to the extrememultiplying the tests to the lies detector in order to probe the loyalty of his agents.
Historically used to identify possible security faults or employees likely to betray their oath, The polygraph test is now instrumentalized for ideological purposesaccording to a survey of New York Times. Some agents would be questioned not for suspicions of professional breaches, but to know if they maintain critical opinions with regard to their hierarchical superiorKash Patel, and his assistant.
The American daily evokes a real political witch hunt within the FBI: Several dozen agents would have been subjected to these intrusive examinations. One of the cases mentioned concerns interrogations aimed at identifying who, within the agency, would have disclosed the media the information according to which Patel required a service weapon.
This authoritarian drift is part of a locking strategy of the institution, motivated by the displayed will of Donald Trump to deeply reform the FBI, An agency he has been accusing to have turned against him for years.
A purge within the FBI
Thus, since the beginning of the year, several agents, including high positions, have been suspended. Others have completely resigned from their own free will, fearing reprisals. Made up agents are even recalled to pass the polygraph again, in a climate of generalized mistrust. “An FBI employee has a duty of loyalty to the Constitution, not vis-à-vis the director of the office or his assistant”launches a former agent, 23 years old of service.
At the same time, the American Ministry of Justice confirmed, Wednesday, July 9, that “Criminal surveys had been opened against former director of FBI James Comey and former CIA director John Brennan”report the Washington Post. The two men have long been in the viewfinder of Donald Trump, in particular for having played a role in the investigation into suspicions of collusion between Russia and Donald Trump’s team in the 2016 presidential campaign.
