The Secretary of the Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, fired the Pentagon's top military planner this Thursday for leaking classified information related to the conflict with Iran, as well as the war between Russia and Ukraine.
CBS News reported that Army Lieutenant General Brett Sylvia failed three polygraph tests when questioned about the leak of information to the press. Sylvia served for 11 months as the director of strategy, plans, and policies for the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell referenced the action in a social media post but did not directly mention Sylvia. "The Department of Defense has zero tolerance for the intentional and unauthorized disclosure of classified information. Anyone who compromises sensitive national security information puts the lives of our service members at risk and undermines every military operation that keeps our country safe," he wrote.
Parnell added that the Department of Defense took the "necessary personnel actions" to protect confidential information following a "thorough" investigation conducted by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, which resulted in the termination of the lieutenant general, who had served 32 years in the Army.
