Beleaguered

'Alex assumed his beleaguered federal lawman pose.'

I don't quite grasp the possibility of using the adjective beleaguered in the above sentence considering the definition to the term given below.

be⋅lea⋅guer
  
–verb (used with object)
1. to surround with military forces.
2. to surround or beset, as with troubles.

federal lawman beset by foes

Thnx

I think that it would be clearer with hyphens: "beleaguered-federal-lawman pose" versus "beleaguered federal-lawman-pose".

Beleaguered often just means "put upon" or weighed down by problems.