Overview
- U.S. investigators put roughly 50 members of the Joint Staff through polygraph examinations in August as part of a leak investigation into disclosures to journalists.
- Reporting says the questioning targeted leaks about dwindling munitions, specifically long‑range precision missiles and Patriot air‑defense interceptors.
- Military investigators administered the tests without FBI involvement while the Pentagon and the Justice Department maintain a joint task force to pursue suspected leakers.
- CBS News sources say no one failed the leak‑specific questions and the Pentagon declined to discuss details, but the operation has deepened mistrust inside the department.
- Experts call the scale and seniority of the testing unprecedented, raising legal and procedural questions and putting pressure on press access, personnel morale, and internal relations under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.