{"id":5065,"date":"2025-04-29T02:32:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T07:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/?p=5065"},"modified":"2025-04-29T02:40:34","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T07:40:34","slug":"fbi-begins-polygraph-hunt-for-leakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/2025\/04\/29\/fbi-begins-polygraph-hunt-for-leakers\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI Begins Polygraph Hunt for Leakers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
FBI Director Kash Patel (right) with Deputy Director Dan Bongino<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Ellen Nakashima and Hannah Natanson report for the Washington Post<\/em> in an article titled, “FBI, national security agencies using polygraphs for ‘leak’ hunts.”<\/a> Excerpt:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

National security agencies across the Trump administration are ramping up investigations into alleged leaks to the news media, in some cases using polygraph tests that current and former officials say are creating a climate of fear and intimidation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At FBI Director Kash Patel\u2019s direction, the bureau in recent weeks has begun administering polygraph tests to identify the source of information leaks, an FBI spokesperson said. The new use of polygraphs at the bureau, which are commonly known as \u201clie detector\u201d tests, has not been previously reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe seriousness of the specific leaks in question precipitated the polygraphs, as they involved potential damage to security protocols at the bureau,\u201d said the spokesperson, who declined to elaborate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ramp-up has been bolstered by Attorney General Pam Bondi\u2019s new legal guidelines that allow the Justice Department to subpoena reporters\u2019 personal communications and broaden the scope of potential criminal prosecution to leaks of not just classified material, but also \u201cprivileged and other sensitive\u201d information that the administration says is \u201cdesigned to sow chaos and distrust\u201d in the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople are trying to keep their heads down,\u201d said one former FBI field office head, who like others interviewed for this article spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. \u201cMorale\u2019s in the toilet. \u2026 When you see people who are being investigated, or names [of agents who worked on Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot cases] being passed over to the DOJ, it\u2019s what the f—?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Pentagon, embattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has threatened the use of polygraphs, according to current and former officials, and has demanded that some senior department officials be administered lie detector exams, the Wall Street Journal has reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sense of dread is palpable. Some officials who have left the government under a buyout and might normally feel less constrained about talking to the news media are refusing to speak while they are officially still on the payroll. Even contractors with security clearances say they can\u2019t take any chances in case they are asked in their next polygraph test whether they have had contact with journalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a toxic environment,\u201d said one official with a top-secret clearance. \u201cFirst, you\u2019ve got the insecurity of not knowing whether you\u2019re going to get fired or not. Then there\u2019s the witch hunt to find the whistleblowers who are exposing the ineptitude and bad management of agencies. They\u2019re trying to silence those who do not follow the party line.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Read the rest of the article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reporting for Reuters, Ryan Patrick Jones and Kanishka Singh confirm the Washington Post<\/em>‘s reporting about the FBI’s use of polygraphs in an article titled, “FBI starts using polygraph tests in internal leak investigations.”<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With respect to the FBI’s use of polygraphs in an attempt to identify leakers, it is noteworthy that FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, speaking last year as a political commentator before his appointment to his current position, publicly advocated expanded reliance on polygraph screening<\/a>. FBI Director Kash Patel, by contrast, appears to have remained publicly silent on polygraph policy both before and since his appointment as Director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AntiPolygraph.org welcomes news tips on polygraph policy. You can reach us privately and securely via Signal at ap_org.01<\/a> or via SimpleX Chat<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ellen Nakashima and Hannah Natanson report for the Washington Post in an article titled, “FBI, national security agencies using polygraphs for ‘leak’ hunts.” Excerpt: National security agencies across the Trump administration are ramping up investigations into alleged leaks to the news media, in some cases using polygraph tests that current and former officials say are …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[624,30,623,143,70],"class_list":{"0":"post-5065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-polygraph","8":"tag-dan-bongino","9":"tag-fbi","10":"tag-kash-patel","11":"tag-leaks","12":"tag-polygraph-screening","13":"anons"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5065"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5068,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5065\/revisions\/5068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}