Most Complaints about CBP's Polygraph Program Are Ambiguous or Unfounded

We determined that although U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had controls over its polygraph examination process, a key control over its review and approval process was not always operating as intended. Specifically, in a small number of cases, the polygraph quality control program may not have always conducted independent and objective reviews (blind reviews) of polygraph examination results, as required. During the audit, CBP addressed our concerns and updated its quality controls procedures. These updated procedures - finalized in September 2017 - require independent and objective quality control reviews. We also determined that 96 percent of the complaints we reviewed were unfounded or ambiguous. However, CBP did not have a formal complaint review process, which led to inconsistent and subjective reviews. This approach risks not finding or properly addressing issues contained in the complaints. We made two recommendations that will improve CBP’s quality control reviews and its complaint review process. CBP concurred with the recommendations.