Dozens Get Polygraph Tests Over Leaks on Missile Stocks

In a move that one retired Navy lawyer called "unprecedented," Pentagon investigators have wired about 50 members of the Joint Staff for polygraph exams in a sweeping hunt for leaks about the Iran war and depleted US weapons stockpiles, the New York Times reports. Officers and civilian staffers were questioned in August on whether they'd shared classified details with reporters, including information about shortages of long-range missiles and Patriot interceptors, according to officials briefed on the effort. The Joint Staff includes up to 2,000 personnel; such broad testing at that senior level has not been seen in modern times, experts say. No one failed questions about whether they had leaked, per CBS News.

A Pentagon spokesperson declined to address the polygraphs directly, saying only that the department takes leaks of classified material "extremely seriously." News outlets have reported internal worries over the Iran warand munitions levels. President Trump was furious that the information was leaked, per CBS, and has pushed his administration to find the source of the leaks. He's also called news media coverage of the war and the decline in weapon supplies, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has argued, "treasonous." The Joint Chiefs chair, Gen. Dan Caine, was not tested, a senior Pentagon official said.