FBI testing employees' loyalty to Trump appointees using lie detectors
What's the story
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has reportedly intensified its use of polygraph lie-detector tests on employees. The move comes as Kash Patel, Director of the FBI, is allegedly seeking out agents who may have criticized his leadership or leaked information to the media. According to The New York Times, dozens of FBI personnel have been questioned with these tests.
Leadership concerns
Details of the questioning not disclosed
Among those questioned was a senior employee, though the specifics of the questioning were not detailed. Another employee was interviewed in connection with a leak, reportedly involving Patel's unusual request for a service weapon. This increased use of polygraph tests is said to be a break from precedent at the FBI, where such tests were typically reserved for suspected traitors or major offenders.
Threatened agent
Ex-FBI agent's account
Michael Feinberg, a former top agent at the FBI's Norfolk office, claimed he was threatened with a polygraph over his friendship with Peter Strzok. Strzok, a counterintelligence official involved in the FBI's investigation into the Trump-Russia allegations, was fired for sending negative messages about Trump during the probe. Feinberg was fired by the FBI in 2018 over the texts against Trump, and he never took the polygraph test.
No comment
FBI declines to comment on report
The FBI has declined to comment on the matter, saying it involves "personnel matters and internal deliberations." Critics of Patel fear he could politicize the agency. The FBI has also launched criminal investigations into former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey, reportedly following a referral from current CIA chief John Ratcliffe.