The hunt is underway for Pentagon leakers who fed the media what the Trump administration is calling blatant Fake News, according to reports.
On Thursday, The New York Times—citing unnamed sources—reported that Elon Musk was set to receive a classified briefing on U.S. military plans for a potential conflict with China, raising alarm over the unprecedented idea of granting such access to a civilian with business ties to Beijing.
The report quickly gained traction, with CNN eagerly amplifying the story—until Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shut it down, clarifying that while Musk was indeed scheduled to visit the Pentagon, no war plan briefing was on the agenda.
Taking to Truth Social, President Donald Trump called the report an “absolutely ridiculous and false story, which is probably libelous.”
“The Fake News is the ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE…And Elon is NOT BEING BRIEFED ON ANYTHING CHINA BY THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR!!!” added the president.
Following the reports, Hegseth’s chief of staff, Joe Kasper, called for an investigation, which he said would include the use of polygraphs, into “unauthorized disclosures” of national security information, according to Bloomberg.
Kasper wants the leakers to “be referred to the appropriate criminal law enforcement entity for criminal prosecution.”
The investigation into leaks “will commence immediately and culminate in a report to the Secretary of Defense,” Kasper wrote in a Friday memo.
“The report will include a complete record of unauthorized disclosures within the Department of Defense and recommendations to improve such efforts,” the memo said.
The memo was issued after Musk took to his X platform to publicly call for a probe and prosecution of the leakers.
“The New York Times is pure propaganda. Also, I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT. They will be found,” he wrote in a post containing a screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social post.
The Pentagon is not the only federal entity seeking to find and prosecute leakers. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has said this month that she used lie detectors to learn who was leaking sensitive information to the media.
Her investigation “identified two leakers of information here at the Department of Homeland Security who have been telling individuals about our operations and putting law enforcement lives in jeopardy. We plan to prosecute these two individuals and hold them accountable for what they’ve done,” she said.
“We’re going to continue to do all that we can to keep America safe,” she added.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for DHS, told Fox News that the two people will face charges.
“We are preparing to refer these perpetrators to the DOJ for felony prosecutions,” the spokesperson said. “These individuals face up to 10 years in federal prison. We will find and root out all leakers. They will face prison time, and we will get justice for the American people.”
Earlier this month, Noem announced that her department had identified some leakers of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations.
“I have found some leakers,” she said in an interview with The Epoch Times. “We are continuing to get more. They will be fired, and there will be consequences.”
She said that her department used “every tactic,” including administering polygraph tests and examining communications and emails, to find those responsible.
Noem’s announcement last week came after The Los Angeles Times published a story earlier this month detailing an ICE operation that was in the works based on a leaked memo.
