Most Americans think government should follow Pete Hegseth’s example on this, poll finds
A lion’s share of American adults believe government agencies should use polygraph examinations to root out government employees who leak information to the media, according to a poll released Wednesday.
The Economist/YouGov poll was conducted after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly threatened polygraphs for suspected leakers.
While the survey did not specifically poll on Hegseth’s use of polygraphs, a plurality of respondents — 40% — said they approve of government agencies using polygraph tests to investigate leaks of information to the media.
Another 30% said they disapprove of agencies using lie detectors and the remaining 30% weren’t sure.
Meanwhile, 45% of the 5,081 US adults surveyed said they believe polygraphs “sometimes” label people who are lying as being truthful.
Another 13% said lie detectors “often” label lying participants as truthful and 19% said polygraphs “rarely” label liars as being truthful. Two percent said “never” and 21% were unsure.
Conversely, 43% said polygraphs “sometimes” label people telling the truth as liars. Another 21% said “rarely” and 12% said “often.” About 21% were unsure and 3% said polygraphs “never” label a truthful person as a liar.
A vast majority of respondents — 67% — said they could only pass a lie detector test if they were telling the truth.
About 1 in 5 were unsure if they could pass a polygraph while 8% said they could pass even if they were lying. The remaining 6% said they could not pass a polygraph under any circumstances.
The Pentagon has been investigating leaks since last month after the media reported Elon Musk was set to visit the building.
“If this effort results in information identifying a party responsible for an unauthorized disclosure,” then such information “will be referred to the appropriate criminal entity for criminal prosecution,” according to a memo from Hegseth’s chief of staff, the Associated Press reported.
Hegseth has also blamed Pentagon leaks for undermining him, including a New York Times report that he released Yemen attack plans in a group text that included his wife, brother and personal attorney.
That revelation came a month after Hegseth was found to use the same group chat app — Signal — to divulge the plans in a text with Vice President JD Vance and other officials. A reporter from the Atlantic magazine was included in the group chat.
During a bizarre interview on “Fox & Friends” last week, Hegseth railed against the leakers.
“Once a leaker, always a leaker, often a leaker,” Hegseth said. “I don’t have time for leakers. I don’t have time for the hoax press that peddles old stories from disgruntled employees.”
Hegseth has denied sharing “war plans” or disseminating confidential information, blaming the scandals on those “trying to get at President Trump and his agenda.”
“What was shared over Signal – then and now, however you characterize it – was informal, unclassified, coordination,” Hegseth said.
The defense secretary has received the backing of President Donald Trump as NPR reported the White House was looking into replacing Hegseth amid the scandals.