Investigations, mock tests and leadership changes… what’s going on at the Pentagon?

As America’s war on Iran continues, the Pentagon is facing one of the worst internal crises in its history, reflected in waves of firings, resignations and investigations, US media reported.

The most recent of those pushes came in the form of an investigation into the leak of sensitive military information that coincided with the White House’s move — according to Reuters — to search for an alternative to the deputy defense secretary.

Who took the lie detector test?

What the US media is calling the “lack of trust” in the corridors of the Pentagon seems to have entered a new phase, yesterday, Friday, the US media reported that several senior officials were being investigated for leaking highly sensitive information related to the Iran war.

The New York Times cited informed officials, who it did not identify, as saying that up to 50 members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were under investigation amid leaks to the press about the US military’s depletion of vital munitions stocks.

The newspaper explained that the tests asked General Staff officers and civilian personnel whether they had disclosed classified information to the press or information about the depletion of American ammunition stocks.

In turn, CBS News reported that a number of senior US military officials had taken lie detector tests over the matter, citing sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the leak had angered President Donald Trump.

Network sources explained that the number of people who had access to munitions-related information was very limited, raising fears about the possibility of working for a foreign intelligence agency.

He added that none of the officials responded to questions to determine whether the information had been leaked to the media.

Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s top spokesman, said the department “does not comment on internal personnel matters or investigations, but takes all leaks of classified information related to national security very seriously and investigates them accordingly.”

Are there exceptions to the polygraph test?

The testing program did not include all senior officials, as a senior Pentagon official said Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Keene was excluded from the lie detector test.

Polygraph tests are usually part of routine procedures for high-ranking military and civilian officials, but the large number of people called to take the tests was rare in this case, officials said.

Within weeks of the war, CBS News and other media outlets published reports of the rapid rate at which the United States was consuming the most advanced and limited munitions available.

In July of last year, Defense Secretary Pete Hegsett announced that the Pentagon and the Department of Justice had formed a joint task force to identify and prosecute people suspected of leaking government information, greatly expanding the efforts begun by the secretary’s office.

Who is next on the firing lists?

Inside the Pentagon, Reuters cited three sources familiar with the matter as saying the White House is studying the names of potential candidates to replace Steve Feinberg and US Deputy Defense Secretary Pete Hegsett, signaling the possibility of further leadership changes at the Pentagon, which is already facing a high rate of employee departures.

Two of the sources said the effort began in June and included talks with senior Senate lawmakers about whether the administration’s nominees would receive enough support for confirmation, while one source said discussions continued until the end of August.

Three of the sources said no decision has yet been made to remove Feinberg, and the sources did not say why the White House was looking into the names of potential candidates, nor did they specify the names of the candidates being considered.

What is the position of the White House and the Pentagon?

However, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said: “These anonymous sources (quoting Reuters) don’t know what they’re talking about.”

He added: “President Trump appreciates the work of Secretary Hegsett, Deputy Secretary Feinberg and the entire staff of the War Department, whose successes in operations of epic fury, absolute resolve and midnight hammer speak for themselves,” referring to US military operations in Iran and Venezuela.

For its part, the Pentagon denied that there was a process to replace Feinberg. In response to a request from Reuters, Hegseth said in a statement that Feinberg has his full support and that he is “not going anywhere.” The Pentagon had no comment on Feinberg and declined to be interviewed.

Feinberg promised to speed up production of American ammunition, but analysts said he had not yet achieved that goal and that the American industrial base could not increase production quickly enough.

Some defense executives say his task has been made more difficult by Congress’s slowness in appropriating the funds, despite heavy pressure from the US administration.

Hegseth said in a statement to Reuters: “(Feinberg) is working tirelessly to rebuild our defense industrial base and ensure our military has everything it needs to win, and I look forward to continuing to work with him.”

He added, “He’s doing an amazing job for President Trump, the department and our warfighters.”

Since Trump’s appointments last year, Feinberg has sought to transform the Pentagon by increasing the U.S. military’s direct investment in companies and lending to defense contractors through multiple offices in the department, including the Office of Strategic Capital and the newly established Defense Economic Unit.

His departure, if it happens, would be the most visible change in the ministry’s apparatus, which has already seen the departure of senior leaders during the Hegseth era.

How many layoffs and resignations are there at the Pentagon?

Last Monday, US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll announced his resignation after months of disagreements with US War Secretary Hegsett over the management of the Army and the latter’s changes to its senior leadership, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Driscoll took office in February 2025 and submitted his resignation to President Donald Trump after about 18 months in office.

Driscoll’s resignation – according to Politico – was not just an ordinary administrative change. Rather, it came after deep disagreements over the future of the army, exacerbated by the removal of a number of senior commanders and delays in the promotion of officers selected under the traditional promotion system.

Earlier, the New York Times reported that Driscoll’s resignation was in a broader context, saying that Hegseth had fired or prevented the promotion of more than 80 generals and admirals, about 10% of the US military’s senior officers.

The paper says Hegseth recently targeted seven army officers selected by a committee of senior leaders for the rank of major general.

He adds that military officials he spoke to said the measures appear to have less to do with officer performance and more to do with Hegsett’s desire to shape military leadership more closely with his political and ideological vision.

But the New York Times points out that Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell defended the defense secretary’s authority to change the promotion lists, saying the belief that the lists “cannot be changed is ludicrous” and that all defense secretaries have exercised that authority.

Members of Congress and military officials say what is happening is outside of normal practice, and Democratic Senator Jack Reed, the senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has called Hegseth’s deportations “illegal,” while Republicans have also expressed concern about their implications.