Following a Washington Post report Wednesday on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s reportedly exorbitant security detail, the Trump cabinet member’s acting deputy press secretary called for “severe punishment” against the journalists involved: Dan Lamothe, Tara Copp and Alex Horton.
“WaPo intentionally published sensitive details of @SecDef ’s security detail for him and his family – putting their safety at risk,” Joel Valdez wrote on X Wednesday. “There should be severe punishment for what @TaraCopp, @DanLamothe and @AlexHortonTX are doing.”
The report, titled “Hegseth’s Expansive Security Requirements Tax Army Protective Unit,” was based on more than a dozen interviews and covered the secretary’s “unusually large personal security requirements” and how they are “straining the Army agency tasked with protecting him.” Copp, Lamothe and Horton’s report alleged that Hegseth’s atypical demands pull agents from potential criminal investigations to protect his family residences in Minnesota, Tennessee and Washington, D.C.
WaPo intentionally published sensitive details of @SecDef’s security detail for him and his family – putting their safety at risk.
— Joel Valdez (@JoelValdezDOD) August 20, 2025
There should be severe punishment for what @TaraCopp, @DanLamothe, and @AlexHortonTX are doing. https://t.co/TtMuCSyJeV
“I’ve never seen this many security teams for one guy,” one anonymous Pentagon source told the paper. “Nobody has.”
In additional Valdez, Sean Parnell, Hegseth’s chief spokesperson, criticized the Post’s Wednesday report, saying that following both of the assassination attempts against President Donald Trump and further considering the “1000% increase in assaults” against ICE agents 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.”
“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 the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID),” Parnell maintained.
Preempting concerns of “doxxing” Hegseth and his family’s security in their report, the Post journalists did note that “several sensitive details gathered in the course of reporting this article” were withheld. Those details included “the size of Hegseth’s protective details and the precise locations where they are assigned.”
Valdez’s call for “severe punishment” against the journalists behind the report came as attacks against members of the press continue in response to unflattering coverage of the president and his administration.
