The machine itself is a bit of what magicians call the misdirect. You're all focused on the machine, but it's actually the questions and the rituals and the penumbra, all the things that are going on around it, which make the polygraph successful in quote marks.
The phrase 'can neither confirm nor deny' is the perfect non-denial denial. It's such a perfect deflection that it seems like it's been around forever.
In a way, spying is about creating illusions. It's about double bluffs. It's about creating a sense of uncertainty in your opponent. And I think he is a sad figure and in a way reflects some of the personal cost of spying that you spend a lifetime lying to other people and also lying to those people near to you.
