Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s unusually large personal security requirements are straining the Army agency tasked with protecting him as it pulls agents from criminal investigations to safeguard family residences in Minnesota, Tennessee and D.C., according to numerous officials familiar with the operation.
The sprawling, multimillion-dollar initiative has forced the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, or CID, the agency that fields security for top Defense Department officials, to staff weeks-long assignments in each location and at times monitor residences belonging to the Hegseths’ former spouses, the officials said.
One CID official, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity citing a fear of reprisal, characterized Hegseth’s personal protective arrangement as unlike any other in the agency’s recent history.
“I’ve never seen this many security teams for one guy,” the official said. “Nobody has.”
This account is based on more than a dozen interviews — including with CID staff, current and former defense officials, and others familiar with Hegseth’s activities — and a review of documents revealing the Trump administration’s apparent unwillingness to meet the Army’s request for additional funding and personnel for the mission. The Washington Post withheld several sensitive details gathered in the course of reporting this article, including the size of Hegseth’s protective details and the precise locations where they are assigned.
Army CID has faced significant staffing and budgetary shortfalls for years, but new demands since Hegseth’s arrival in January have put added pressure on the agency, officials said.
“We have complete inability to achieve our most basic missions,” one person said.
The Pentagon declined to address several questions submitted by The Post. A spokesman, Sean Parnell, said in a statement that “any action pertaining to the security of Secretary Hegseth and his family has been in response to the threat environment and at the full recommendation of the Army Criminal Investigation Division.”
Dude is a hyper-conservative small government dipshit, yet he heavily relies on taxpayer-funded personal security.
He could easily afford to pay for his own private security, given that he's a millionaire, but uses socialized systems instead, and denies social welfare programs.
Fucking MAGA hypocrites. Kill them all