Pentagon issues polygraph tests in hunt for leakers of munition shortages: Report
August polygraphs. Patriot tubes on the table. Somebody talked.
Summary
- The Washington Examiner reports the Pentagon subjected some high-ranking military officials and civilian employees to polygraph tests to find leaks to journalists about U.S. munitions stockpiles depleted by the war with Iran.
- CBS News and the New York Times reported the disclosures covered long-range missiles and Patriot air-defense interceptors. Investigators asked Joint Staff officers and civilians whether they had given classified stockpile information to the press.
- The polygraphs were conducted in August, around the time those shortage stories published. Sources told CBS that no one failed the leak questions.
- Spokesman Sean Parnell declined to comment on the internal probe. The department told CBS it takes leaks of classified national security information extremely seriously because securing that information protects the United States and troops deployed around the world.
Commentary
A Huntsville night assembler still smells solvent and watches a Patriot tube that should not become a headline before it becomes a shot. He did not clock a double so a Joint Staff desk could brief a reporter.
August. Polygraphs. Long-range. Patriots. The honest dad already signed the clearance. The leak paid the front page.
Ask every working mother who still kisses a deployed kid on a grainy call: if the tubes are the war, who still wants the next count in a newspaper?
Comments
August tests. Joint Staff. Long-range plus Patriots. That is a hole in the magazine, not a scoop.
I signed a clearance so a tube would stay a secret. Find the mouth. Do not shrug.
CBS. NYT. No one failed the leak questions. Parnell no-comment. Publish the four.
Allied magazines still treat an interceptor count as classified. A front page is a gift to Tehran.
High-ranking. Civilian. August window. File the probe next to the stories.
I still bag parts with cracked skin. I want the next count on a pad, not a chyron.
A deployed kid should not learn the cupboard is thin from cable news. Close the leak.
A published Patriot shortfall is a second front. The first story should have been the last.
The Examiner printed August, Patriots, Joint Staff, and no fails. Argue those nouns.
Keep the probe. Guard the magazine. A leak that aids the enemy is not speech.
