A furious Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to hook up the acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to a “f****** polygraph test” following a news leak last month, according to a report.
Hegseth reportedly erupted last month after information emerged that the Pentagon had set up a briefing for Elon Musk on plans in the event of a war with China. An angry Donald Trump immediately responded that Musk would not be receiving any information given his major business ties with Beijing. The leak infuriated the president and raised alarm bells within the Pentagon, The Wall Street Journal reported.
A teed-off Hegseth wanted to know who was responsible for the leak, and reportedly shouted at the then-acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Christopher Gray: “I’ll hook you up to a f****** polygraph test!”
Hegseth also accused Joint Staff Director Doug Sims of the leak and similarly threatened to make him take a lie-detector test, the Journal reported.
When contacted for comment, a senior defense official told The Independent the Pentagon won't respond, adding that Hegseth's conversations with senior leaders are private.
It’s the latest of a string of Hegseth’s controversies since he was sworn in just three months ago.
Hegseth reportedly recently added his wife, Jennifer Rauchet, his brother and personal lawyer to a Signal group chat in which he discussed U.S. plans to strike Houthi targets in Yemen. That was after National Security Adviser Mike Waltz inadvertently added the Atlantic’s top editor to a similar group chat with high-ranking officials in which Hegseth also discussed strike plans in detail, again using Signal instead of the approved encrypted Pentagon communication system.
In addition, Hegseth has included his wife in meetings with Republican lawmakers and with at least one international official in protocol-shattering behavior.
“What I’ve seen with Hegseth – never in my life have I ever seen this,” a former Pentagon official told CNN.
Hegseth’s tumultuous tenure has critical national security implications, experts told the Journal.
“I didn’t believe he had the requisite experience and skills to handle the toughest job in the cabinet before he was confirmed, and I have seen nothing in his performance so far that would disconfirm that judgment,” Eric Edelman, a former top Pentagon official under President George W. Bush, told the newspaper.
