File photo: Fired Lt Gen Brett Sylvia
The report also said he admitted to being one of 20 officials cited in a media story critical of Pentagon leadership.
The US Army general fired by defence secretary Pete Hegseth admitted to leaking classified information about the wars in Iran and Ukraine to journalists over a period of roughly a year, according to an internal investigation report reviewed by Axios. He received a Signal message sometime in June or July that he believed concerned Iran, according to the report. Sylvia said he could not recall its precise contents and claimed he had deleted the message, believing he had accidentally erased the entire conversation thread. Another 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 effort to limit the damage from any future allegations of leaks. US president Donald Trump, asked about the firing on Thursday, said Sylvia had “big problems” and that the administration was “very much looking for leakers”.
The investigation also raised questions about Sylvia’s handling of communications with one of the reporters. This also removed Signal messages and calls that could otherwise have been recovered from his personal phone. US officials suspect Sylvia deliberately deleted the communications and presented the action as accidental. The Joint Staff later withdrew the statement after someone in the Defence Department informed it of the reasons behind Sylvia’s dismissal. Trump appeared to refer to Sylvia using female pronouns.
The disclosures began as early as June 2025 and continued after the Pentagon tightened restrictions on media access, according to the report.
Lt Gen Brett Sylvia, who headed the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s Strategy, Plans and Policy Directorate, known as the J5, acknowledged sharing classified information with two reporters from separate media outlets, according to the report. A US official told Axios that Sylvia made the admissions on video after failing multiple polygraph tests during the investigation. The report said the diner meeting took place after the journalist’s access to the Pentagon had been revoked. The journalist was working on a book and met Sylvia twice, the report said.
Sylvia allegedly communicated with reporters through the encrypted messaging application Signal and also met one journalist in person at a Silver Diner in Arlington, Virginia. During the meeting, Sylvia relied on notes he had made while reviewing a classified report to orally share information about US assistance to Ukraine. Sylvia did not coordinate the meetings with the Pentagon’s public affairs office or seek clearance before sharing the information.