The White House has issued a rare public rebuke of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, following reports that he had directed members of his Pentagon staff to submit to polygraph examinations in a sweeping effort to root out suspected leakers.

The White House was forced to intervene to put an end to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s routine use of polygraph tests on his own staff. According to The Washington Post, a top aide to the Defense chief complained to the White House that he could be subject to a lie detector as Hegseth’s campaign to stamp out the endless Pentagon media leaks raged.