The Pentagon’s former top military planner allegedly leaked classified information about Iran and Ukraine to journalists, Axios reported on Thursday, citing an internal investigation.
US War Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Army Lieutenant General Brett Sylvia as head of strategy, plans and policy on the Joint Staff earlier this week. Without mentioning Sylvia by name, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said on Thursday that the department had “zero tolerance for the intentional, unauthorized disclosure of classified information.” He added that the Pentagon “took necessary personnel action to protect sensitive information.”
According to Axios, Sylvia admitted to leaking information as early as June 2025, before most media outlets were barred from the Pentagon. He allegedly continued communicating with reporters through the encrypted messaging app Signal and once met a journalist at a diner to discuss military aid to Ukraine without authorization.
“He had trouble passing multiple polygraph interviews,” the report said, according to Axios.
Officials reportedly suspect that the general deliberately deleted records of his communications with a reporter while claiming the deletion was accidental. Sylvia also allegedly admitted to being a source for another story criticizing Pentagon leadership.
Sylvia’s departure comes amid reports that the US and Israel are preparing to resume strikes on Iran following next week’s US midterm elections. US President Donald Trump has indicated that he may take military action if Tehran refuses to accept his terms for a peace deal.
Since returning to the White House in early 2025, Trump has sought to crack down on government leaks, repeatedly accusing news outlets of conducting a smear campaign against him.
In July, Hegseth said the Pentagon and Justice Department had established a joint task force to “identify and prosecute leakers.”
In April 2025, Hegseth fired three senior Pentagon aides, Dan Caldwell, Darin Selnick and Colin Carroll, amid an investigation into alleged leaks of sensitive information to the media. All three denied wrongdoing, and none was subsequently charged with a crime. Caldwell later returned to the Trump administration in a position at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.