“Have you ever tried to overthrow the U.S. government?”
If you’re trying to get top secret security clearance for a government job, that’s a standard question for the required polygraph exam. And the answer, obviously, should be no.
But Josh Abate couldn’t say no if he wanted to pass the test.
“It depends,” he said, when he took the exam in early 2022 for an internship.
The polygrapher paused and asked him to elaborate.
“Well, on January 6th, I went into the Capitol building.”
That was the first time Abate, a 24-year-old sergeant in the Marines, had talked openly about what he did that day.
At that point, he was doing well in the Marines. He made sergeant early, got a Navy commendation medal and was selected for this coveted internship with the National Security Agency.