Overview
- The Pentagon ran a campaign of polygraph tests on roughly fifty Joint Staff members in August to help identify who disclosed press reports that U.S. munitions had been depleted by the war with Iran.
- Military investigators carried out the August examinations rather than the FBI, and the effort was linked to a joint DoD–Justice Department task force created in July to find and prosecute leakers.
- Multiple anonymous sources told reporters that no one failed the tests but that not all senior officers were tested, with Joint Chiefs chair Gen. Dan Caine cited as an example of a leader who was not given a polygraph.
- The Pentagon declined to discuss personnel or ongoing probes in detail and said it takes classified-information leaks very seriously while officials expressed concern some disclosures could involve foreign intelligence actors.
- Former military legal officials described the scale of testing as unprecedented, and the campaign has deepened mistrust inside the Pentagon and raised the prospect of criminal investigations and tighter controls on classified access.