The Pentagon has begun polygraph testing among senior military officials as it investigates how classified information about US ammunition stocks was leaked to journalists, according to US media reports.
Around 50 members of the Defence Department’s planning and advisory staff have reportedly been required to undergo the tests, according to The New York Times. CBS News has also reported on the extensive use of polygraphs in an effort to identify the source of information about US weapons supplies that was disclosed to the media.
The investigation centres on reports that the United States had begun rationing ammunition following several months of war with Iran because of concerns about supplies. The reports, published by US media in July, were strongly rejected by government officials.
US President Donald Trump said at the time that the United States had “huge amounts” of ammunition, while acknowledging that the country would “certainly like to have more” of some of its most advanced weapons.
Trump was reportedly furious about the reports, CBS News said. According to the broadcaster, access to the information that was leaked was restricted to only a very small number of people.
The Pentagon has not confirmed the reported polygraph programme. Asked by AFP about the reports, Defence Department spokesman Sean Parnell declined to comment, saying he did not discuss “internal personnel or investigative matters”.
Parnell nevertheless said the Pentagon took “all leaks of classified information relating to national security extremely seriously” and pursued them accordingly. Such investigations, he said, were “critical to ensuring the security of the United States and our forces deployed around the world”.
The reported investigation has placed senior military personnel under scrutiny as the Pentagon seeks to determine how information classified as secret reached journalists. The United States’ most senior military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, was reportedly not among those tested.
Both The New York Times and CBS News based their reports on unnamed officials.
Polygraph examinations are not unprecedented for senior military and civilian officials, according to CBS News. What is unusual in this case is the reported number of people being subjected to testing as investigators attempt to identify the source of the disclosure.
The tests measure physical responses associated with stress, including changes in blood pressure, and are intended to assist investigators in determining whether a person is being truthful. Their reliability, however, remains scientifically disputed, with uncertainty over whether the results can provide a dependable indication that someone has lied.
The reported Pentagon investigation therefore reflects the seriousness with which officials are treating the disclosure while also highlighting the difficulties involved in identifying the source of classified information.
At the centre of the inquiry is the question of who provided journalists with information about US ammunition supplies and whether the disclosure revealed sensitive details about the military’s ability to sustain weapons stocks following the conflict with Iran.
For the Pentagon, the investigation is not simply about identifying a source. Officials have framed the pursuit of the leak as a national security matter, particularly because the information concerned military supplies and the readiness of US forces deployed around the world.
Yet the reliance on an unusually large number of polygraph tests also illustrates the extraordinary lengths reportedly being taken to trace the leak — even as questions remain over how reliably such tests can determine whether an individual is telling the truth.
