Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was admonished by a military sentinel standing watch over the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday, after he and his entourage appeared to violate the site’s rules for decorum by laughing and talking as they posed for photos following a Veterans Day observance.
The incident took place after President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other top administration and military officials attended the annual wreath-laying ceremony at the cemetery.
In a video recorded and first reported by CNN, Hegseth and his wife, Jennifer Hegseth, along with advisers Ricky Buria, Tami Radabaugh and others are observed taking photos in front of the Tomb. As they begin to walk away, the group can be heard laughing and loudly chatting.
The sentinel — one of the service members assigned to the elite unit that stands watch over the Tomb 24 hours a day — then steps toward Hegseth and his entourage and bellows at them. “All visitors will maintain an atmosphere of silence and respect at all times!” he yelled.
Hegseth, himself a combat veteran who served as an officer in the Army National Guard, appears to gesture toward the sentinel before disappearing from the frame.
“All visitors will maintain an atmosphere of silence and respect at all times!” A Sentinel at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier yells after laughter could be heard from a group near Secretary Hegseth, who was taking posed photographs at the site. pic.twitter.com/SYs4q6GxK9
— CSPAN (@cspan) November 11, 2026
Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, issued a statement later Wednesday acknowledging the incident.
“While commemorating this solemn day, a soldier correctly and respectfully reminded everyone to maintain decorum,” the statement read.
A spokesperson for the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as “The Old Guard,” the unit tasked with protecting the Tomb, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The president and his team have been involved in multiple controversies at the cemetery.
In 2024, Trump’s campaign staff was instructed to avoid taking photos and videos in Section 60 of Arlington National, per the cemetery’s policy banning any political use of imagery showing the final resting place for troops killed in recent conflicts. The episode triggered a confrontation between a cemetery official and a Trump campaign worker. Images of Trump at the cemetery later appeared in his campaign material.
In 2017, during Trump’s first administration, he was visiting the grave of Marine 1st Lt. Robert Michael Kelly, the late son of his then-chief of staff John F. Kelly, a retired Marine general. “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?” Trump said, according to reporting by the Atlantic. The remarks were later confirmed by The Washington Post by a person with knowledge of the conversation, who said that Kelly came to understand Trump had difficulty comprehending the concept of service and sacrifice.
Wednesday’s incident coincides with the Trump administration’s controversial drive to build a 250-foot memorial arch near the entrance of Arlington National Cemetery. The effort is being challenged in court. A Post investigation of its design found that the structure would cast shadows over as many as 75,000 grave sites there.
Military personnel have stood watch continuously over the Tomb of the Unknowns, one of the United States’ most sacred memorials, since 1937.
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