Dozens of DHS staffers, including top FEMA officials, given lie detector tests over alleged leaks

(CNN) — The Department of Homeland Security has administered lie detector tests to about 50 staffers in recent weeks, including FEMA’s acting administrator and roughly a dozen officials at the disaster relief agency, as part of an intensifying effort to root out what the department alleges are leaks of national security information.

Acting FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton, an appointee of President Donald Trump, was given a polygraph just days after taking part in a meeting with top DHS officials for a policy discussion on the future of FEMA and how to potentially dismantle the agency in the coming months. That closed-door meeting was reported by CNN and other media outlets.

At least one FEMA official has been placed on administrative leave and was escorted out of the agency’s office this week after being administered a polygraph test, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

“We are agnostic about your standing, tenure, political appointment, or status as a career civil servant — we will track down leakers and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in an email to CNN.

The investigations at DHS have raised concerns that the lie detector tests may be used on federal workers accused of leaking non-classified information to the media, particularly at FEMA where sources say classified information is handled in very limited circumstances. Whistleblower support organizations tell CNN it would be unusual, alarming and potentially illegal for the tests to be used in such cases.

One FEMA official, who declined to be identified out of fear of retribution, said: “They’re going after rank-and-file employees and instilling this culture of fear.”

The Trump administration, including at DHS and the Department of Defense, has launched various investigations involving polygraphs into unauthorized disclosures of classified and national security information.

Some FEMA officials “failed” the test, McLaughlin said, declining to provide details on what information was allegedly leaked. She insisted DHS is following the law.

“We will take appropriate action and, in some cases, refer some for criminal prosecution based on additional evidence found,” McLaughlin said in an email to CNN.

McLaughlin said Hamilton’s polygraph cleared him. Hamilton remains in his job. CNN has reached out to him for comment. Politico first reported he was administered the test.

The FEMA official told CNN that the idea DHS is only testing workers accused of leaking classified information is “extremely farcical” based on knowing some of the people who were given the tests and the positions they hold.

“They are just covering up the unpopular stuff they’re doing,” the official said. “FEMA is a consumer of classified information, not a producer of classified information, and the FEMA programs that are truly classified are all an extremely small group of people.”

A second FEMA official called the tests “a witch hunt.”

“I find it very, very hard to believe that within the normal course of business, any of these employees had their hands on classified material,” the official said. “They are trying to incite fear. They are trying to get rid of people.”

Tom Devine, legal director for the Government Accountability Project, a non-partisan, nonprofit whistleblower support organization, said he’s surprised by the number of polygraphs administered in just the first three months of the Trump administration.

“Government agencies for decades, have used lie detectors to catch leakers or anyone else they perceived as wrongdoers. The difference here is the volume,” Devine said. “What used to be a sensitive, carefully considered high-risk decision, is now a knee-jerk reaction, and that’s what’s scary.”

As CNN previously reported, experts have questioned the validity of polygraphs, as they are subject to coercion and can be unreliable, and they are often inadmissible in court.

The tests come against the backdrop of growing tension between FEMA’s workforce and the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the disaster relief agency. Trump and his allies have lambasted FEMA for months, claiming the agency is partisan, ineffective and unnecessary. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has vowed to “eliminate FEMA.”

Noem, DHS and the Elon Musk-led DOGE effort are seeking potentially major cuts at FEMA. Last week, FEMA staff were offered voluntary separations and early retirement as part of the latest iteration of the Deferred Resignation Program.

Multiple FEMA officials tell CNN they expect the offer will spark a mass exodus from the disaster relief organization amid the mounting turmoil and cratering morale, which some fear will impact the agency’s ability to respond to storms during hurricane season.

“Far more employees are considering or taking the [voluntary resignation offers],” the first FEMA official said. “You have the potential for a ton of institutional knowledge to walk out the door, and then you have a double whammy if you don’t have enough manpower to meet the mission, even if it’s an average hurricane season.”

CNN previously reported that the turmoil at FEMA is already affecting the agency’s hurricane preparations. The FEMA official warns that response teams and resources could be stretched thin if the US faces a storm season like last year, when Hurricanes Helene and Milton pounded the Southeast in succession.

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