Axios: Trump is pursuing US intelligence officials from the “deep state” who leaked classified information about him
Axios reported the deep distrust among US national security officials, from the top to the commander-in-chief, who considers himself a victim of deep state abuses.
Axios explained that top US national security agencies are using lie detector tests, spying on employee communications, and threatening to open criminal investigations, all in the name of exposing leakers or ensuring their loyalty.
The FBI subjected its senior agents to lie detector tests to find sources for relatively innocent news leaks, and even to ask whether the agents had criticized Director Kash Patel.
Axios also reported that “Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, made their name in part by being highly critical of the FBI before being selected to run it… Relations with career agents were strained from the start, and several senior agents were reassigned or placed on administrative leave”.
Axios noted that the FBI isn’t the only agency using lie detectors.
A memo from Joe Casper, then-Chief of Staff to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in March stated that lie detectors would be used as part of the process of identifying the source of leaks.
Incidentally, this investigation turned into a power struggle that led to Casper’s own dismissal.
The Department of Homeland Security stated in March that it uses lie detector tests to identify those who provide allegedly classified information prior to Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.
Axios reported that in one case, Federal Emergency Management Agency employees who attended a March meeting with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem were subjected to lie detector tests after some of the meeting’s contents were leaked.
The Washington Post reported earlier that a new unit led by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is seeking email and chat records from all US spy agencies to identify employees who might undermine President Trump’s agenda.
Gabbard has repeatedly accused some of the agencies she now oversees of politicizing intelligence under previous leadership, and in April she announced that she had referred multiple leaks to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation.
She said, “These deep state criminals leaked classified information for partisan political purposes to undermine the president’s agenda”.
