Officials fuming at 'sprawling, multimillion-dollar' cost of Hegseth protection: report

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is at the center of another controversy at the Pentagon, where officials working in the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) are complaining that he is draining their budget with his security needs

According to a report from the Washington Post, the controversial Donald Trump Cabinet member is creating a need for security details not only for himself and his family, but also for “weeks-long assignments" guarding his ex-wife and kids in “residences in Minnesota, Tennessee and D.C.” adding that is a “sprawling multimillion-dollar initiative.”

The report notes that Pentagon officials have long had security details, but Hegseth’s extensive needs are causing a manpower shortage while at the same time taking agents off their normal duties investigating crimes within the military.

According to one CID official, “I’ve never seen this many security teams for one guy. Nobody has.”

RELATED: Hegseth has become a growing headache for 'frustrated' White House: WSJ

The Post’s Tara Copp, Alex Horton and Dan Lamothe are reporting, “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,” with one insider stating, “We have complete inability to achieve our most basic missions.”

The report notes that approximately 150 of the agency’s 1,500 agents work on security details, but that “... when Hegseth took office a call went out for many more. Now there are hundreds assigned to personal protective duty, these people said.“

One claimed the number is at “400 and going up,” while another added, it’s “over 500.”

A CID official pointed out that agents are being denied the ability to do “what we are supposed to be doing” and, instead, having to “sit on luggage” or “sit in the cars on the driveway.”

“It is literally taking away from [CID’s] law enforcement mission. … You are taking hundreds of people out of the field to provide this level of protection,” they added.

“In its statement, Army CID said Hegseth did not request the additional coverage,” the Post is reporting.