A Defense Department spokesman lashed out Wednesday at a Washington Post investigation into Secretary Pete Hegseth’s security detail, accusing the newspaper of endangering the Cabinet member and his family.
“WaPo intentionally published sensitive details of @SecDef’s security detail for him and his family – putting their safety at risk,” Joel Valdez, the acting deputy press secretary for the Department of Defense, said on X. “There should be severe punishment for what @TaraCopp, @DanLamothe, and @AlexHortonTX are doing.”
The Post story, headlined “Hegseth’s expansive security requirements tax Army protective unit,” was published Wednesday morning and was allegedly based on more than a dozen interviews. Reporters Tara Copp, Alex Horton, and Dan Lamothe detailed how Hegseth’s “unusually large” protective demands are straining the Army agency charged with safeguarding him, forcing agents to be pulled from criminal cases to cover his residences in Minnesota, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C.
“I’ve never seen this many security teams for one guy. Nobody has,” one Pentagon source said, according to the paper.
The Post said it withheld “several sensitive details” in its reporting, including the number of agents assigned and precise locations.
Still, the story drew sharp criticism from Hegseth’s chief spokesperson, Sean Parnell, who said the report ignored the volatile threat environment.
“In the wake of two assassination attempts against President Trump, ICE agents facing a 1000% increase in assaults, and repeated threats of retaliation from Iran for striking their nuclear capabilities, it’s astonishing that the Washington Post is criticizing a high-ranking Cabinet official for receiving appropriate security protection, especially after doxxing the DHS Secretary last week,” Parnell said.
“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 (CID),” he added.
Meanwhile, Hegseth is warning about China’s threat and accusing the country of attempting to seize the Panama Canal.
“The communist Chinese want to control politicians,” Hegseth said on Fox News. “They’re building infrastructure projects. They want to surveil. They want to take that canal. President Trump says, ‘Not on our watch,’ and we’re fighting back.”
Hegseth stated that the United States has been “asleep at the wheel.”
“President Trump said in his State of the Union address [that] China has too much influence over the Panama Canal, and America’s going to take it back. That’s exactly what I was charged to do, what we’re continuing to do. China’s influence cannot control our own backyard, especially a critical waterway, key terrain like the Panama Canal. You mentioned 40% of ships are U.S. ships, 75% are going to or from a port. So we were able to secure two historic agreements: one with the Panama Canal authority that our ships, our military vessels and our auxiliary vessels will travel first and free through that Panama Canal,” Hegseth began.
“And then we also signed a memorandum of understanding with the defense secretary over there and the president that established a robust and growing U.S. presence, right? You need to secure that key terrain. So Fort Sherman will reopen jointly with the Panamanians a Jungle School, and we’re going to have a larger U.S. presence at the invitation of Panama, working with them to keep the communist Chinese out. If we can’t use that that waterway in a key contingency, then China has an advantage. Other presidents have allowed us — we’ve been sort of asleep at the wheel. President Trump has said we need to be serious about our own backyard. That includes a place like the Panama Canal,” he added.
Hegseth continued, “And I want to thank President Molina, a pro-Trump, pro-America president of Panama, who’s sticking his neck out against communists whose influence was real there.”