Pete Hegseth requires a lot of security. In fact, his requirements have allegedly put the agency responsible for protecting him and his family under enormous strain with the Defense Secretary’s needs being too much to handle.
Hegseth reportedly has unusually large personal security requirements according to the Washington Post. The army agency that has been tasked with protecting him and his family received a call when he took office asking for many more agents to be put on VIP security detail. One person familiar with the situation explained that the agency typically allocates around 150 of its 1,500 agents to VIP security. Thanks to Hegseth that number has ballooned to between 400 and 500.
Pete Hegseth has some heavy requirements
The biggest drawback of this increased security is that the agency has to pull personnel from other, more important jobs, in order to accommodate Hegseth’s needs. The Defense Secretary’s security is provided by the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division or CID. Apparently CID was already struggling with staffing and budgetary shortfalls, however, Hegseth’s extra demands are threatening the agency even more so.
CID officials who spoke anonymously for fear of repercussions claimed that Hegseth’s security requirements were more than anything they’d ever seen. “I’ve never seen this many security teams for one guy,” the official claimed, “Nobody has.” Despite this it seems Hegseth doesn’t actually take security all that seriously considering the amount of times he’s accidentally leaked military plans.
The CID has had to staff week-long assignments at multiple locations, some of which included monitoring the homes of Hegseth’s ex-wives. Despite this, the agency hasn’t been given an increased budget or more staff meaning personnel has had to be moved from other jobs to work for Hegseth instead.
Agents are being pulled from other jobs
The CID primarily focuses on investigating serious crimes within the army including contracting fraud, sexual assault and other violent crimes such as the recent mass shooting at Fort Stewart, Georgia. However, with resources more stretched than ever, thanks to Hegseth, the agency is not able to fulfil its main goals. One person told the Washington Post, “We have complete inability to achieve our most basic missions.”
Yet another CID official expressed frustration with agents being taken off of investigations to “sit on luggage” or “sit in the cars on the driveway.” It really doesn’t seem like Hegseth actually needs this additional security.
No matter how important a person is, nobody should need that much protection, it just seems like a waste of resources, which is ironic considering Trump’s administration labeled the CID’s contracting fraud investigations a waste of money. Online netizens were less than pleased to hear that Hegseth is essentially hogging resources that he doesn’t need too with one person writing, “This whole regime is filled with grifting divas.” Another added, “This is your tax dollars and mine.”
All of this does sort of make us wonder how Pete Hegseth has managed to keep his job so far when he seems so incompetent and wasteful.
