Kash Patel ordered polygraphs of more than two dozen members of his team, sources tell MS NOW

[demmiblue]

Source: MS Now

FBI director Kash Patel has ordered the polygraphing of more than two dozen former and current members of his security detail and other staff and has been described as in panic mode to save his job and find leakers among his team, according to two people briefed on the development.

Patel has walled himself off from some senior bureau leaders this week in the wake of multiple media reports that raised red flags about his leadership, according to three people familiar with his recent actions. Two of the people told MS NOW that the director ordered the polygraphing this week of the former and current security detail members, as well as several information technology staff.

The director also has avoided meeting this week with some key operational leaders of the bureau, the people said, raising concern inside the FBI about Patel’s ability to stay abreast of pressing threats and investigations in order to make the best decisions.

FBI spokesman Ben Williamson declined to comment on whether Patel has ordered polygraphs. He disputed claims that the director was walled off from his senior staff, saying Patel has regularly met with operational leaders including his two deputy directors, assistant directors and an intelligence briefing team.

Read more: https://www.ms.now/news/kash-patel-ordered-polygraphs-of-more-than-two-dozen-members-of-his-team-sources-tell-ms-now

[FakeNoose]

1. This is how you stop the leaks

Yep ...

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. The FBI Is Reportedly Investigating a Leak to an Atlantic Writer (gift article)

Sarah Fitzpatrick reported on concerns about Kash Patel’s drinking and behavior.

Link to tweet

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/05/kash-patel-investigation-atlantic/687072/?gift=MGlBZHZ983oknUV9KykqpqhtmEVkxTN3YaGSLBJ7mGg&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

Nearly three weeks after The Atlantic reported that some government officials were alarmed by FBI Director Kash Patel’s behavior, including conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences, MS NOW reported this morning that the bureau has “launched a criminal leak investigation” that focuses on the Atlantic journalist who wrote the story, Sarah Fitzpatrick.

MS NOW reported that there is concern among FBI agents assigned to the investigation, citing two people familiar with the matter who were granted anonymity. Leak investigations are typically focused on government officials, not on journalists, with the goal of avoiding scrutinizing the reporters’ private communications, notes, or other work material. Investigators rarely subpoena a reporter’s records, to avoid encroaching on activity protected by the First Amendment. But the MS NOW reporting suggests a reversal of the normal process, with investigators possibly beginning their work with Fitzpatrick, former U.S. officials who are familiar with leak investigations but did not have firsthand knowledge of this situation told us.

“They know they are not supposed to do this,” one source told MS NOW about the purported scrutiny of a journalist. “But if they don’t go forward, they could lose their jobs. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”

The FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson denied the investigation and said in a statement, “This is completely false. No such investigation like this exists and the reporter you mention is not being investigated at all.” The White House referred me to the FBI....

This is not the first time in recent months that federal law enforcement has targeted traditional news-gathering practices in ways that seem designed to intimidate journalists and discourage critical news stories. In January, FBI agents executed a search warrant at the home of the Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, seizing her phone and other devices as part of an investigation into a government contractor who was charged with unlawfully transmitting and retaining classified information. Weeks earlier, Natanson had published an essay about how she had connected with more than 1,000 sources about the Trump administration’s overhaul of the federal government. Some of that work, along with that of Natanson’s colleagues, was recognized this week when the Post was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. In March, the FBI began investigating the New York Times reporter Elizabeth Williamson after she wrote about Patel using bureau personnel to protect his girlfriend and ferry her around, the paper reported. (It also reported that the FBI decided not to pursue a case.)

[rurallib]

3. Ka$hie will be pounding them down tonite, folks

hopes he has a baby sitter.

[Buddyzbuddy]

4. How does the FBI enforce an order to polygraph former employees?

[maxsolomon]

5. Actual FBI Agents know polygraphs are unreliable and were probably trained to evade them.

Only the Apparatchiks will be caught up, which is hilarious.

"Remember: if you believe it, it's not a lie"
-George Costanza

[pansypoo53219]

6. when does kash take one?

[dalton99a]

7. +1

[sakabatou]

8. Should we tell Kashcow polygraph tests are unreliable?