For the commemoration of the occasion D-Day in France, the US Secretary of Defense Pit Hegset he took almost his entire family with him. As the "Washington Post" reports, he thereby put the security forces in front of serious challenges. However, the minister's spokesman stated that Hegseth is paying for his family's travel expenses himself. However, according to the paper, it remained unclear whether this included the cost of additional security personnel.
Hegsett has a total of seven children, four of whom are biological children from two different relationships, while the remaining three are stepchildren from his current marriage. Which of the seven children did not fly to France remains unknown.
According to the Washington Post, the cost of personal security has increased significantly since Hegseth took office, as the security service also takes over the protection of the homes of his ex-wives.
The Hegseth family has taken the children on business trips before, including one in October with a stopover in Hawaii. The Pentagon declined to comment at the time on whether the minister was reimbursed for accompanying his family.
Hegsett compares migration to invasion
On the occasion of the 82nd anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy, Hegseth again called on NATO to expand its defense capabilities at the American military cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer. He pointed out that "peace is guaranteed only by force". He did not refer to the wars in Iran, Ukraine or other regions of the world.
In his speech, Hegsett also touched on irregular migration in the European Union countries. At the same time, he used a comparison with D-Day: "Unfortunately, different European beaches today are occupied by different dangerous ideologies: boats and people arrive on the beaches of Spain, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria," said the American minister. The question is whether European governments "will take measures against this invasion or is it already too late".
The Normandy landings, involving nearly 7.000 ships and around 132.000 Allied troops, opened a second front in the West against the Wehrmacht and contributed decisively to the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
Source: Der Spiegel/AFP
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