Darren Lyn
08 May 2026•Update: 08 May 2026
FBI Director Kash Patel ordered polygraph exams of more than two dozen members of the Trump administration, including members of his own US Justice Department, to try to find sources of leaks within the White House, according to a report from MS NOW on Thursday.
Sources told MS NOW that Patel is in "panic mode" to save his job and find leakers among his team after media reports suggested that senior leaders in the Trump administration are questioning his leadership and decision-making following multiple leaks of White House information.
In Nov. 2025, MS NOW first reported that Trump and White House advisers were privately discussing removing Patel from his position.
Both current and former members of Patel's security detail, in addition to information technology staff members, were given lie detector tests to try to expose any moles within the administration.
Reports also indicate that Patel has also avoided meeting with key FBI operational leaders this week, raising concerns within the bureau about the director's ability to keep up with pressing threats and investigations.
FBI spokesman Ben Williamson declined to comment on whether Patel ordered the polygraphs, but he disputed claims about Patel being absent from key meetings with senior staff members.
"I’ve been in the usual operational leader meetings with him every day this week," said Williamson in a statement. "It’s false."
"The only people in panic are the 'panicans' in the media pushing out false stories because they spend zero time covering the record-breaking success in reduction in crime at this FBI," Williamson added.
According to media reports, Patel demanded the lie detector tests to determine if any members of the team that accompanies him on his travels, or staff who have access to sensitive details about his decisions, have communicated with reporters or media outlets.
The new revelations of the polygraph exams come in the wake of MS NOW revealing that Patel ordered the FBI to open a criminal leak investigation into a story by The Atlantic last month that described Patel as a heavy drinker who could not wake up in the morning for work.
Sources told MS NOW that FBI agents were deeply concerned about opening such a probe because it would involve examining the contacts of a journalist who engaged in news gathering under the US Constitution's First Amendment right to freedom of the press and, in their view, lacked reasonable justification.
This is not the first time Patel has engaged in broad polygraphing of staff, according to MS NOW, which said a source told the media outlet that dozens of agents were polygraphed several months ago after public reporting about Patel requesting to obtain a gun.
