Why the Pentagon Is Doing Polygraphs, and Officials Prepare to Release Huge Set of 9/11 Documents

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Will Jarvis (0:32)

From the New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Will Jarvis, in for Tracy Mumford. Today's Tuesday, September 8th. Here's what we're covering.

We're going to start with three updates on the Trump administration from over the long weekend. First, the Times has learned that at the Pentagon, dozens of military officers and civilian workers have been given polygraph tests as part of an investigation into leaks to the press. The search came after a flurry of news reports that detailed how the ongoing war in Iran has eaten into the military stockpile of critical munitions like interceptor missiles. The Pentagon has responded with an unprecedented investigation. Around 50 people have been hooked up to the polygraph machines and questioned about whether they shared classified information with journalists. It's the first time in modern history that mass polygraph tests have been given to the top ranks of the US military.

People with knowledge of the investigation say it seems to have two goals. One, find who leaked the information. And two, intimidate others so they don't leak in the future. The leaks had fueled an atmosphere of deep distrust and paranoia inside the Pentagon that current and former defense officials say has been stoked by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Since last year, the Pentagon has conducted a number of leak investigations and Hegseth has consolidated his control over the military by firing and replacing senior leaders who he sees as more loyal.

In response to questions from the Times, a Pentagon spokesman said the department does not comment on internal matters, but that securing classified information is, quote, critical to ensuring the security of the United States and of our troops deployed around the world.

Also, the White House is moving to change a federal child care subsidy in an effort to promote a more traditional view of families. The plan would tap into a fund that's designed to help low-income parents afford child care so they can go to work or school. It gives roughly $9,000 a year per child, and health department data shows that currently, most people getting the subsidies are single mothers. But in an effort championed by Vice President JD. Vance, the new plan would expand those benefits to couples where one person stays at home to raise kids. The couples would have to be married. The change would effectively create a government incentive for parents not to work as part of a broader conservative movement to advance policies that promote mothers staying at home. Critics say the change could not only hurt single parents, but also end up redirecting money away from child care providers. That could force some to raise prices or close altogether, potentially worsening what many experts say is already a major child care shortage in the US. If finalized, the new rule could go into effect as soon as next year.

And last update.

SPEAKER_3 (3:20)

What does he know about New Mexico? Nothing.

SPEAKER_5 (3:23)

I think he's trolling.

Will Jarvis (3:25)

In New Mexico, there's been quick and intense backlash to President Trump's suggestion that the state be renamed New America.

SPEAKER_5 (3:33)

It won't stand, but in the meantime, he's getting a lot of attention out of it.

Will Jarvis (3:38)

Over the weekend, Trump and the White House shared posts promoting the idea, which comes on the heels of the administration's move to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America and Lake Ontario Lake America. But unlike those moves, which were carried out through the Federal Geographic's Name Database, Trump has no legal authority to rename New Mexico or any other state. Any proposed renaming would require changing New Mexico's Constitution, and the state's Democratic leaders said there's absolutely no way they would consider doing that.

In New York City today, officials are set to release more than 170,000 pages of previously unseen documents about the air quality at Ground Zero in the aftermath of September 11th. For more than two decades, the papers have been kept private, but a health advocacy group had sued to force their release, and ahead of the 25th anniversary of the attacks this week, the mayor's office has started to make them public. Back in 2001, the collapse of the Twin Towers showered a huge area of lower Manhattan with dust and debris, and for months afterwards, the enormous pile of wreckage from the towers continued to smolder. At the time, city and federal officials, including the mayor and the head of the EPA, reassured New Yorkers that the air above Ground Zero was safe to breathe, but even the fraction of the records that the Times was able to review before their release suggests that was not true, and that people were encouraged to return to the area before it was safe. The documents show that in November of 2001, the levels of one carcinogen, benzene, were spiking in the neighborhood, and that even ten months after the attacks, officials were finding evidence of asbestos as much as half a mile away. In the years since, an alarming number of firefighters, police officers, and other emergency responders have been diagnosed with respiratory diseases and blood and lung cancers. Overall, more people are believed to have died from illnesses related to the aftermath than the nearly 3,000 people who were killed in the attack itself. Now, the documents released could help people who got sick apply for money from federal victim compensation funds, though it could also expose New York City to new or updated lawsuits.