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The Department of Defense is investigating “recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information” and plans to use polygraphs as part of the probe, according to a memo published to the department’s website Friday.
“The use of polygraphs in the execution of this investigation will be in accordance with applicable law and policy,” DOD Chief of Staff Joe Kasper wrote in the memo. “This investigation will commence immediately and culminate in a report to the Secretary of Defense.”
Kasper wrote that “information identifying a party responsible for an unauthorized disclosure” would be referred for criminal prosecution.
The memo comes after President Donald Trump pushed back on a New York Times report that DOGE head Elon Musk would be briefed on US military plans for a potential war with China while at the Pentagon on Friday. Trump said he wouldn’t show such plans “to anybody.” Pentagon officials also resoundingly dismissed the reporting on social media. Musk did meet with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for over an hour Friday.
The Defense Department is the latest government arm to announce it will use polygraph tests on employees. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said earlier this month her department will continue the practice after reports she directed polygraphs in the department to include a question about leaks to the media. She said she still believes there are leakers within the government, and they should “be held accountable.”
“We have identified two leakers of information here at the Department of Homeland Security who have been telling individuals about our operations and putting law enforcement lives in jeopardy. We plan to prosecute these two individuals and hold them accountable for what they’ve done,” Noem said in a video on X earlier this month.
The Department of Justice on Friday announced its own probe into “the selective leak of inaccurate, but nevertheless classified” information related to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
“We will not tolerate politically motivated efforts by the Deep State to undercut President Trump’s agenda by leaking false information onto the pages of their allies at the New York Times,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement on Friday. “The Alien Enemies Proclamation is supported by fact, law, and common sense, which we will establish in court and then expel the TDA terrorists from this country,”
CNN’s Haley Britzky, Donald Judd and Christian Sierra contributed to this report.
