Pentagon press secretary threatens to pull WaPo access to Defense Department for doxxing Hegseth

Misty Severi
Just the News
Sat, 23 Aug 2025 21:24 UTC

© Celal Gunes /Anadolu/Getty Images

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth

The Washington Post article criticized Hegseth for pulling Army Criminal Investigation Division agents from criminal investigations to protect Hegseth's family residences in Minnesota, Tennessee and Washington, D.C.

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson on Friday threatened to pull the Washington Post's access to Defense Department facilities after it published a report highlighting Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's security personnel and homes.

The Washington Post article, which was published Wednesday, seemed to criticize Hegseth for pulling Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) agents from criminal investigations to protect Hegseth's family residences in Minnesota, Tennessee and Washington, D.C.

The Pentagon has defended Hegseth's security detail as instrumental to his safety due to the current threat environment, and claimed the outlet's reporting constitutes "doxxing."

The outlet did not give precise locations of the homes, such as the addresses, nor the size of Hegseth's security detail.

© Defense Department/Stars and Stripes

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson

Wilson highlighted that the Washington Post report is a trend for the outlet, which she also claimed has doxxed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem by publishing that she was moved into military housing due to threats.

"This is a trend that we're seeing from the scummy journalists at the Washington Post, and it is totally inappropriate, and it puts lives at risk," Wilson said on the "Just The News, No Noise" TV show. "It doesn't just put the lives of cabinet level officials at risk, it also puts the lives of these agents at risk, who put their life on the line every single day to protect cabinet officials. The Secretary of Defense in particular, is living in and dealing with a heightened threat environment."

Wilson said the heightened threat environment includes possible retaliation from Iran over the recent strikes, two presidential assassination attempts and an increase in attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

The press secretary said Hegseth's team is also frustrated with the reports and will now have to change a lot of its operations because of the detail that is included in the article.

When asked if there would be consequences for the outlet over its recent reporting, Wilson said all options for holding it accountable are on the table, including pulling its access to the department.

"We take the safety of the Secretary and our personnel who keep him safe very, very seriously, and when people endanger that, we want to make sure that we are creating a space where outlets who engage in that sort of behavior are not given the access that other outlets who tell the truth do," she said. "So that's something that we're looking at, and we'll continue to evaluate."

Comment: The New York Post weigh in:

The report, dubbed a Washington Post exclusive and headlined "Hegseth's expansive security requirements tax Army protective unit," cites unnamed "officials" who insist Hegseth is straining the agency tasked with protecting him because of "unusually large personal security requirements."

"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 Hegseth's former spouses, the officials said," the Post reported.

"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."

The article noted that Hegseth requires additional resources because of a "large blended family" with homes in several locations, "a rise in politically motivated violence as the nation has become more splintered" and a bomb threat "made against his home in Tennessee."

The Washington Post report also revealed the state where Hegseth's second wife currently resides, noted that "CID security assignments can entail accompanying the children to school and walking the perimeter of the homes," and criticized the secretary of defense for taking his family to a Washington Nationals baseball game.

"We attempted to get the Washington Post to remove sensitive details about the security of Secretary Hegseth's wife, children, and extended family, citing obvious security concerns and the potential for threats to increase after its publication. There is no justification for the Washington Post to publish this information about them," Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told Fox News Digital.

John Solomon reports: