White House forced to intervene again after Hegseth sets off alarms at Pentagon: report

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth received a sharp phone call from the White House over his wide use of polygraphs at the Pentagon which infuriated one official with close ties to Donald Trump advisor Stephen Miller.

After six months, Hegseth has continued being a problem for the Trump administration from his "Signalgate" scandal to canceling a shipment or arms to Ukraine without notifying the president or the State Depatment and now infuriating Pentagon denizens with his obsessive search for leakers.

On Saturday, the New York Times reported that Hegseth was on the receiving end of a "rare intervention" from Gen. Dan Caine, the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs, over fury at the refusal to promote Army officer Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Sims II, because Hegseth believed he was a leaker.

Now, on Sunday, the Washington Post is reporting Hegseth's fear of leaks reached the point where the White House felt compelled to intervene.

According to the report, "Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of polygraph tests to search for people leaking information to the news media was stopped at the direction of the White House after a senior adviser to Hegseth raised alarm to senior officials there about being targeted."

At the center of the pushback is Hegseth advisor Patrick Weaver, who is close to Miller, who grew angry upon hearing he himself might be put on the spot.

That led to a previously unreported call from the White House for the defense secretary to stand down.

The report adds, "The polygraphs came during a period of tremendous upheaval in Hegseth’s inner circle that includedthe defense secretary’s firing of three senior Pentagon appointees in April and accusing them of leaking to the media. The aides — Dan Caldwell, Colin Carroll and Darin Selnick — disputed that and accused the Pentagon of slandering them. Hegseth’s team has presented no evidence to back its claims."

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