Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is operating under the heaviest personal security detail in modern Pentagon history, a reflection of the heightened threats against him and his family as the U.S. military braces for the possibility of global conflict.
“I’ve never seen this many security teams for one guy,” an unnamed official told The Washington Post. “Nobody has.”
Army Criminal Investigation Division agents, normally assigned to probe serious crimes such as fraud and assaults within the service, have been diverted in large numbers to provide round-the-clock protection for Hegseth, his wife Jennifer, and their children at residences in Washington, Minnesota, and Tennessee.
Such measures have never before been seen for a defense secretary, much less any official, according to the report.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell blasted media scrutiny of Hegseth’s security as “astonishing,” defending the secretary’s protection as “appropriate.”
The leftist media scrutiny of “Cabinet secretaries’ security protocols and movements,” including Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “puts lives at risk,” Parnell warned.
The enhanced posture follows threats against Hegseth’s home and comes as President Donald Trump pursues an ambitious agenda to prevent war with Russia and stabilize flashpoints around the world.
“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,” Parnell added to the Post in a statement.
Security is a “no fail” mission, an official warned the Post, echoing the statements of even former President Joe Biden’s administration when then-candidate Trump took a bullet to the ear in an assassination attempt July 13, 2024 – where an assassin got off eight shots at Trump. One struck and killed rallygoer Corey Comperatore.
“I see why they’re doing it,” the official added of the enhanced Hegseth security.
With the nation’s armed forces a decisive factor in maintaining global peace, protecting the secretary who oversees them has become a top priority, and a potential distraction, according to the Post.
Critics, including some anonymous officials quoted by the Post, have complained that the security demands are taxing the Army’s investigative resources.
“We have complete inability to achieve our most basic missions,” one unnamed official told the Post.
CID has had to reassign hundreds of agents to protective duty, delay training, and even call in reservists to cover the expanded mission. The Pentagon has requested additional funding from Congress to cover the growing needs.
In a statement, the Army CID said it is operating under “existing resource constraints” but is “proactively adjusting” to meet emerging threats, maintaining what it called a robust posture in both investigations and protection.
The agency declined to release specifics on threat levels, security measures, staffing, or budgets, citing safety concerns.
The critical report in the Post comes as Biden-era CID Director Greg Ford, a career Naval Criminal Investigative Service officer, is leaving next month.
Ford told CID staff in a message reviewed by the Post, he was leaving “for a combination of professional and personal reasons,” but he did not elaborate.
Ford’s office declined the Post’s interview request.
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