Attorney General Jeff Sessions has reportedly discussed using lie detector tests to find leakers within the National Security Council.
Sessions brought up the issue with associates as recently as last month, Axios reports.
According to the website, Sessions wants to focus on National Security Council staffers in order find leakers of transcripts of Trump’s phone conversations with foreign leaders. The number of people who would have that information is small enough that a leaker could be easily uncovered, Sessions believes.
And if the polygraph crusade doesn’t find the leakers, it could prevent unauthorized disclosures in the future.
It is not clear how seriously Sessions is pursuing testing National Security Council staffers. Sarah Isgur Flores, a spokesperson for Sessions, declined The Daily Caller’s request for comment about Axios’ report.
Sessions has been under heavy pressure from President Trump to root out leakers within the federal government. The Trump administration, more than its predecessors, has been swamped with leaks of classified information about topics ranging from the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the election to Trump’s classified conversations with foreign leaders.
In response to that onslaught of leaks, Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced on Aug. 4 that the Justice Department would be forming a task force to root out leakers. Sessions also suggested that investigators would subpoena reporters in order to identify their information sources.