The minister told BNS the move on Tuesday came in response to a proposal from the State Security Department.
According to the Law on State and Official Secrets, "an entity of secrets shall, on its own initiative or upon a reasoned recommendation of the State Security Department, revoke an authorisation to handle or familiarise with classified information."
After losing permits to work with classified information, the officials face removal from office.
Last week, Palaitis expressed no-confidence in both Gailius and Giržadas. Initially, the lack of confidence was expressed in Giržadas due to unfavorable results of a repeated polygraph test, also known as the lie detector test. The minister stated lack of confidence in Gailius after he stated support to his deputy, regardless of the minister's position.
Both officials had been tested on the polygraph in the past.
According to information available to BNS, the polygraph tests might be related to an investigation into the leak of information about bankruptcy of bank Snoras and suspicions on how Snoras' shareholders received information on planned law-enforcement actions last November.
