The United States Department of Defense has subjected approximately 50 senior military officers and civilian employees to polygraph examinations in an effort to identify who leaked classified information about American munitions shortages to the media, according to reports first published by The New York Times and subsequently confirmed by CBS News. The tests were administered in August to members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — the Pentagon's senior planning and advisory body — as well as support personnel and, according to CBS, field commanders including staff from Central Command, the military formation responsible for operations across the Middle East.
The investigation centres on reports that emerged in July revealing that the United States had been rationing certain munitions, particularly missile interceptors such as Patriot rockets, following months of sustained conflict with Iran. The strain on stockpiles was attributed to the high volume of Iranian attacks on American targets in the region. The Trump administration forcefully denied the substance of those reports. President Donald Trump acknowledged wanting more of "the more sophisticated stuff" while insisting overall ammunition supplies were adequate. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, rather than involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation, used the military's own internal investigative assets to conduct the sweep — a decision analysts say reflects a more aggressive approach to counterintelligence within the department. The Pentagon and the Justice Department had previously established a joint task force to identify and prosecute leakers.
No one is reported to have failed the polygraph tests, and the investigation has so far not produced a clear suspect. The Pentagon's chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, declined to discuss "internal personnel or investigative matters" but stressed that the department "takes all leaks of classified national security information extremely seriously." Former Defence Secretary Mark Esper, speaking to Bloomberg, described the scale of the testing as unprecedented: "I've never seen anything like it," he said, while noting that much of the information about munitions stockpiles had in fact been publicly circulated for some time by think tanks, journalists, and former Pentagon officials.
Sources cited by The New York Times said the polygraph sweep served a dual purpose: identifying the leaker and deterring others from approaching the press in the future. Legal experts quoted in the paper described mass polygraph testing at this level of seniority as without precedent, since while such tests are routine during security clearance renewals, deploying them en masse as a leak-hunting tool is a significant escalation. Critics argue the crackdown is part of a broader effort to suppress unflattering information — pointing to earlier episodes in which leaked reporting exposed, for example, that Air Force One lacked critical defence systems, prompting Trump to transfer aircraft covertly. The relationship between the Pentagon and the press has deteriorated sharply since Trump's return to office, with Hegseth having expelled defence journalists from the ministry, dismissed the editor of a military newspaper, and held no press conference since May despite ongoing hostilities with Iran.