The commander of the District of Columbia National Guard said he was unable to immediately send troops to help police officers on January 6 because the United States Capitol was under siege because his authority to do so without further approval was withdrawn by the Pentagon.
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“All military commanders normally have immediate response authority to protect property, life and, in my case, federal functions – federal property and life,” Major General William Walker said in an interview with the Washington Post. “But in this case, I didn’t have that authority.”
Instead, when he received the initial phone call from the Capitol Police chief warning that an insurrection was about to happen, Walker had to wait for the signal from then Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy and then acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller before to order troops for the Capitol building to help local law enforcement that was oppressed by a crowd of Trump supporters breaking into the building.
Walker told the agency that if he had not been forced to go through an additional round of permits, members of the National Guard could have entered the scene “With all deliberate speed – I mean, they are right down the street.”
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Instead, it took the National Guard more than an hour to appear. Police chiefs at various local and federal agencies are now under scrutiny for their apparent lack of preparation and delay in responding to the riot earlier this month that left five people – including a Capitol police officer – killed.
Walker, McCarthy and other senior officials informed the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, while Congress is preparing for an in-depth investigation of that day’s security deficiencies.
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Additional protocols were placed in the National Guard to limit their troop deployment as an immediate response after the military reserve force received widespread criticism in June for deploying members at the request of then President Donald Trump to control citizens in Washington, DC, who were protesting against the death of George Floyd, despite resistance from the local police, who considered the change unnecessary.