Pentagon’s top military planner Army Lt Gen Brett Sylvia. Army Lt Gen Brett Sylvia, the Pentagon's top military planner, admitted to leaking classified information about Ukraine and Iran to two journalists from separate media outlets over a period of a year, according to an internal investigation report quoted by Axios. Sylvia was dismissed this week by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth over the alleged misconduct. A US official told Axios that the general acknowledged the disclosures on video after failing four polygraph tests. The investigation report accused Sylvia of making "unauthorised disclosures to the media". It said he had been "cooperative with answering questions about interactions with the media to resolve this" and had provided his personal phone for a forensic examination. The report said the disclosures began as early as June 2025, before the Pentagon barred several mainstream media outlets from its premises, and continued afterwards through the encrypted messaging app Signal and an in-person meeting at a diner in Arlington, Virginia. One meeting took place at a Silver Diner after a reporter's access to the Pentagon had been revoked, the report said. During the meeting, Sylvia used notes taken while reviewing a classified secret report to verbally share information about US assistance to Ukraine. The report said the journalist was writing a book and had met Sylvia twice. It added that the general had not coordinated the meetings with the Pentagon's Public Affairs Office or sought approval for the information before sharing it. US officials also suspect Sylvia deliberately deleted his Signal exchanges with one of the journalists, while claiming the deletion was accidental. According to the report, Sylvia said he received a Signal message from the journalist sometime in June or July, which he believed concerned Iran. He said he could not recall its precise contents and had not responded before deleting it. "He stated that he did not respond to the message and instead deleted it," the report said. Sylvia believed he had accidentally deleted the entire conversation thread, including messages and calls recorded on his personal phone. In connection with another report criticising Pentagon leadership, Sylvia admitted to being one of the 20 officials cited in the article, the investigation found. A separate US official told Axios that Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle and his office had lobbied the Joint Staff to issue a statement supporting Sylvia, in an apparent effort "to minimize the damage about any future claims of him leaking classified information". The Joint Staff later withdrew the statement after someone in the Defence Department informed it of the reasons behind Sylvia's dismissal, the official said. Sylvia's removal is the latest development in Hegseth's broader crackdown on leaks and media access at the Pentagon. In July, the Defence Department announced a joint task force with the Justice Department to identify officials leaking information. It also directed the Pentagon's Office of General Counsel to prioritise prosecutions over unauthorised disclosures to the media.