The Pentagon's former top military planner is under federal investigation and may face a court-martial for allegedly leaking to reporters from the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, according to three sources familiar with the controversy.
Why it matters: Former Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia was fired by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week after being accused of misconduct as part of the department's war on leaks.
- Sylvia failed four polygraphs and admitted to the incidents during two interviews on video that lasted more than a total of two hours, according to details from an internal Pentagon report shared with Axios.
- "The president has no tolerance for leakers, so Sylvia's termination is the first step in the accountability process, not the last," one of the sources said.
Zoom in: Starting in the fall of 2025, the sources said, Sylvia gave information without authorization to reporters Michael Gordon of the Wall Street Journal and Greg Jaffe of the New York Times.
- Neither reporter is suspected or accused of doing anything illegal, improper or unprofessional in their reporting.
- Journalists often rely on confidential sources in reporting on issues that involve institutions where insiders aren't authorized to speak publicly.
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