Washington [US], July 27: The White House has reportedly asked the Pentagon to stop polygraph testing employees following complaints from a senior adviser.
Internal leaks to the media in recent months have forced the Pentagon to conduct polygraph tests on employees to identify leakers.
However, this controversial measure has raised concerns among some US Defense Department employees. According to The Washington Post on July 16, Patrick Weaver, a senior adviser to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, expressed concerns to the White House this spring about the possibility of him being asked to take a polygraph test. The newspaper said Mr. Weaver is a loyalist to President Donald Trump.
Following the adviser's complaint, the White House ordered the Pentagon to stop the practice, according to The Washington Post .
The White House intervention came via a call from a person close to the Trump administration, after Secretary Hegseth's team began testing employees in April.
According to The Washington Post , multiple polygraph tests were conducted over several weeks with the approval of Secretary Hegseth. Special operations forces personnel and FBI officials working at the interagency Joint Services Advisory Group were all tested before Mr. Weaver spoke out.
According to the newspaper, Colonel Ricky Buria, now a senior adviser to Mr. Hegseth, took a polygraph test with unclear results, then retired from the US Marine Corps to take up political office in April.
Mr. Hegseth's group also warned that it would examine senior officers such as Navy Admiral Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Army General Douglas Sims, director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whose promotion to four -star general was blocked by Mr. Hegseth despite the Pentagon's support.
The inspections come at a time of heightened unrest, with Secretary Pete Hegseth firing three senior aides in April over allegations of leaking information to the media. The officials have denied the allegations.
The Pentagon leak investigations were launched after Joe Kasper, the chief of staff to the secretary of defense (who resigned in April), issued a memo calling for a full investigation into unauthorized leaks.
Then, turmoil grew over the mistaken addition of a journalist to a chat group where government officials, including Mr. Hegseth, were discussing plans for an attack in Yemen. Mr. Hegseth's role in the incident became controversial when he shared information about the attack plan in an unsecured chat group, even though the government said the information was not classified.
The Pentagon declined to comment directly on The Washington Post 's report on polygraph testing.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
