4 days ago
FBI using lie detectors to test Trump administration loyalty
The FBI is reportedly using lie detector tests to see whether officials are loyal to the agency's director, Kash Patel.
Marking a significant escalation in the use of polygraph tests, agents are being questioned over their previous statements on Mr Trump's pick for the top job, as well as whether they have leaked information about him to the media.
More broadly, the tests are being used to find employees who may have betrayed their country or shown they can't be trusted with secrets.
At times during interviews and lie-detector tests, the FBI has asked senior officials whether they have said anything negative about Mr Patel, two people told the New York Times.
In one instance, officials were forced to take a lie-detector test as the agency worked to find out who had told the media that Mr Patel had demanded a service weapon, despite not being a field agent.
Dozens of officials are thought to have been asked to take lie-detector tests, though it is unclear how many were quizzed about their loyalty to Mr Patel.
The FBI confirmed earlier this year that it had begun using polygraph tests to try and source the origin of leaks about the agency.
'We can confirm the FBI has begun administering polygraph tests to identify the source of information leaks within the bureau,' the bureau's public affairs office told Reuters in April.
Polygraph tests are not used to uphold evidence in a court of law but are regularly used by national security agencies as part of investigations and background checks.
James Davidson, a former agent who spent 23 years at the FBI, said the increasing use of tests to question employee loyalty undermined Mr Patel's credibility as director.
'Loyalty is to the Constitution'
He told the NYT: 'An FBI employee's loyalty is to the Constitution, not to the director or deputy director. It says everything about Patel's weak constitution that this is even on his radar.'
However, former polygraphers also said the question asking about Mr Patel may have been a 'control question', which is used to provoke a physiological response from the subject, regardless of whether they are being truthful.
Mr Patel was installed as the next FBI director earlier this year in a narrow vote in the Senate. He is viewed as a key ally of Mr Trump, having refused to commit that he would not investigate officials he viewed as opponents of the president.
The crackdown on leaking is part of a wider trend within the Trump administration, which has taken steps to prosecute those responsible.
The US Department of Justice has already made it easier for prosecutors investigating leaks to demand records and testimony from journalists.
'Low confidence'
Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary, warned former senior advisers could be prosecuted for leaking Pentagon information.
Mr Hegseth, alongside the US president, railed against Pentagon officials last month after it was reported that strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities had not been as successful as initially thought.
The defence secretary said the Pentagon assessment had been made with 'low confidence' and confirmed that the FBI was looking into the leak.
Tulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence, pledged in March to 'aggressively pursue recent leakers' in order to hold them accountable for unauthorised disclosures.
Ms Gabbard had also said she was willing to work with the justice department and the FBI 'to investigate, terminate and prosecute' the leakers who she referred to as 'criminals'.
