Several Dozen Senior U.S. Military Officers Took Polygraphs This Summer Over Leaked Munitions Numbers

WASHINGTON — Some of the highest-ranking officers in the American military sat for polygraph examinations earlier this summer as part of a sweeping hunt for the source of leaked classified details about the country's stockpiles of advanced munitions, U.S. officials briefed on the matter told CBS News. Several dozen people were tested, among them officials at U.S. Central Command and other combatant commanders.

President Trump was furious about the disclosures, according to three of the sources, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity. Only a very small group of people had access to the classified numbers on the munitions, and one of the sources said there was genuine concern inside the building about whether someone in that group might be working as a foreign intelligence asset. The polygraph sessions ranged well beyond the leak itself, digging into a range of national security matters. On the specific questions meant to establish whether the officials had talked to reporters, two of the sources said, no one failed.

Polygraphs are not unusual for officials cleared into top-secret material or into "special access programs," the tightest tier of classification, and those clearances are typically recertified every few years. What was extraordinary here, officials said, was the sheer number of senior people pulled in at once. National security officials described the scale as the signature of an active investigation rather than routine recertification. The FBI was not involved in administering the tests, several people with direct knowledge said. Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was not among those polygraphed, a senior Pentagon official said.

"The Department does not comment on internal personnel or investigative matters but takes all leaks of classified national security information extremely seriously and investigates accordingly," chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement Friday night. "Securing classified information is critical to ensuring the security of the United States and of our troops deployed around the world." The New York Times first reported the testing.

The disclosures that set the investigation in motion came weeks into the war with Iran, when CBS News and other outlets reported how quickly the United States was spending down some of its most advanced and least replaceable munitions. In July, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the Pentagon and the Justice Department had stood up a joint task force to find and prosecute suspected leakers, a major expansion of an effort that had started inside his own office. He gave the Pentagon's Office of General Counsel, run by Earl Matthews, broad authority to demand records and assistance, and instructed Pentagon personnel to answer those demands within two days. "When a leak of department information occurs today, it's critical that we provide the Department of Justice and other partners in federal law enforcement — including the FBI — with actionable information as quickly as possible," Hegseth said. "Leaked information risks lives."

That announcement came days after the Justice Department subpoenaed several New York Times reporters over their coverage of security shortcomings aboard the Qatari-donated aircraft being converted into Air Force One. Prosecutors later withdrew the subpoenas for grand jury testimony and phone records, a retreat that followed a hearing in which a federal judge pressed them on why they had gone after reporters before exhausting other investigative steps.

Federal law and Pentagon regulation do constrain how polygraphs may be used. A defense secretary can direct counterintelligence investigations that include examinations, but the person being tested must consent to or request the test, and the law requires the secretary to ensure polygraphs are used in a "responsible and effective" manner and to report on their use to Congress.

This is not Hegseth's first turn to the machine. After the ouster of Gen. C.Q. Brown as Joint Chiefs chairman, The Wall Street Journal reported, Hegseth was enraged that details of a classified China briefing arranged for Elon Musk at the Pentagon on March 21, 2025, had reached the press. Citing two people familiar with the exchange, the paper said he shouted at Adm. Christopher Grady, then the acting chairman: "I'll hook you up to a f—ing polygraph!" Grady was never tested. Lt. Gen. Doug Sims, then director of the Joint Staff, was also accused and threatened with an examination; Hegseth decided against promoting him to four stars, and he retired last September.