U.S. General Brett Sylvia was removed from his post amid allegations that, over a period of about a year, he shared classified information about Ukraine and Iran with two journalists.
According to an internal investigative report published by Axios, Sylvia admitted to disclosing the information after failing four polygraph tests.
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He held one of the Pentagon’s most important positions in military planning and was removed from his post a few days ago on the orders of U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The investigative document says the general struggled during several repeated polygraph tests and faced allegations of unauthorized sharing of information with the media. However, he cooperated with investigators, answered questions about his contacts with journalists and handed over his personal phone for a digital examination.
The suspected leaks began in June 2025, before the Pentagon imposed restrictions on major media outlets’ access to the institution.
Even after the measures took effect, Sylvia continued communicating with journalists. The contacts took place through the encrypted messaging app Signal and during a meeting at a restaurant in Arlington, Virginia.
The restaurant meeting was arranged after the journalist had lost the accreditation that allowed them to enter the Pentagon.
During the conversation, the general allegedly relied on notes he had taken while reviewing a classified report and verbally shared information with the journalist about U.S. aid to Ukraine.
According to investigators, the journalist was working on a book and had met with Sylvia twice.
The report notes that the general had not coordinated these meetings with the Pentagon’s Office of Public Affairs. He had also not sought approval to share the information with the journalist.
Another part of the investigation concerns Signal communications and suspicions that Sylvia deliberately deleted traces of his contacts with one of the journalists, later describing it as an unintentional mistake.
According to the report, at some point between June and July, the general received Signal messages from a journalist whose identity has not been made public.
Sylvia told investigators he could not recall the exact content of the conversation but thought the messages had to do with Iran.
He said he did not respond to the messages and decided to delete them. According to his account, he accidentally deleted the entire conversation with the journalist in the process. As a result, call logs for conversations made through Signal also disappeared from his personal phone.
In another episode, the general acknowledged that he was one of 20 officials who had served as sources for an article critical of Pentagon leadership.
Sylvia’s dismissal also sparked internal debate over how the case was handled publicly.
A U.S. official told Axios that Adam Telle, the acting secretary of the Army, and his office had pressured the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff to issue a statement in support of the general.
According to the source, the aim was to reduce the damage that future revelations about the real reasons for his dismissal might cause.
But the statement was withdrawn after a Defense Department official informed the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the actual reasons for Sylvia’s removal.
A U.S. Army official categorically denied allegations that Telle’s office had sought to issue a statement supporting the general.
“This is the latest episode in a coordinated campaign of lies aimed at sowing chaos,” the official said. The official added that Telle and his office had not supported the release of any statement about Sylvia and that the claim was entirely false.
The general’s removal is seen as the latest episode in the Pentagon’s efforts, under Pete Hegseth’s leadership, to stop information from leaking to the media.
In July, the Department of Defense announced the formation of a joint task force with the Department of Justice, focused on identifying people leaking information from the Pentagon.
The Defense Department’s Legal Services was also asked to prioritize prosecuting people who disclose information to the media without authorization.
Since last year, several journalists covering defense, along with representatives of media organizations, had turned in their credentials in protest against the Pentagon’s strict restrictions on access and reporting from the institution.
