Thousands of HQ personnel will also be required to sign non-disclosure agreements, the newspaper has said
The US Department of War is weighing new restrictions that would force thousands of staff at headquarters to sign non-disclosure agreements and undergo random polygraph tests, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
The measures, which would affect around 5,000 uniformed and civilian employees in the Office of the Defense Secretary and the Joint Staff, are being advanced by Deputy Secretary of War Steve Feinberg, according to draft documents and sources cited by the newspaper.
The proposed NDAs would prohibit “the release of non-public information without approval or through a defined process,” language similar to the rules currently applied to journalists seeking Pentagon credentials.
Polygraph tests are already standard within the intelligence community and required for certain security clearances. The FBI recently expanded their use as well, the newspaper noted.
Enforcement of anti-leak rules in Washington has historically been uneven. Whistleblowers have often faced prosecution and lengthy jail terms under the Espionage Act, while senior officials leaking classified details have sometimes received kid-glove treatment. Former CIA Director David Petraeus, who shared secrets with his lover and biographer Paula Broadwell, had to resign and was only sentenced to probation and a fine.
Critics told the paper that the Pentagon’s new rules may go beyond information security and could be aimed at rooting out disloyalty to President Donald Trump. One former official described the initiative as “an attempt to cause as much fear in the workplace as possible.”
The report comes days after the Daily Mail published an article citing unnamed sources in the Pentagon who described Secretary of War Pete Hegseth as showing “a manic quality” and appearing to be “crawling out of his skin.” A Pentagon spokesperson dismissed the account, telling the British tabloid it was “completely false.”
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