Pete Hegseth Pentagon tenure controversies 2026
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Trump administration orders staff to take polygraph tests
General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was among senior officials who were not tested.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth created a task force with the Department of Justice in July to speed up investigations into unauthorized disclosures.
The NYT reported that nothing comparable to the polygraph operation has been carried out across the upper ranks of the US military in modern history.
Pentagon conducts polygraphs of US military staff over media leaks
The Defence Department fired the top editor and publisher of Stars and Stripes last month.
Trump has publicly praised Hegseth's performance as fantastic.
Legal and military experts say the scale of the investigation is unprecedented, as the top ranks of the US armed forces have never undergone widespread polygraph testing in modern history.
Pete Hegseth criticized for leadership of US military
Vice President JD Vance said Driscoll was a very good friend and a great secretary of the Army.
Pentagon spokesperson Parnell said the Pentagon is unified behind Hegseth's vision.
Trump named Adam Telle as acting secretary of the Army.
“But this is infinitely worse because we had a lot of other very smart people to corral the bad ideas coming out of Rumsfeld. [This time] we’ve had the whole removal of seasoned men and women who have learned things the hard way most of the time in combat.”
Pete Hegseth's Pentagon tenure marked by list of controversies
Since September 2, 2025, the US military has carried out boat strikes in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean on the premise of protecting the US from narco-terrorists.
Pete Hegseth is a former Fox News host and Army National Guard veteran.
In September 2025, the Pentagon unveiled a policy requiring journalists to sign a pledge restricting their news gathering or lose media credentials.