The Pentagon restricted the head of the Washington, D.C. National Guard from acting immediately to deploy troops in response to an emergency before the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
Maj. Gen. William Walker, the commanding general of the D.C. Guard, told the newspaper in an interview that the Pentagon removed his authority to deploy troops without approval from headquarters, which prevented him from immediately assisting the Capitol Police when the riot broke out.
“All military commanders normally have immediate response authority to protect property, life, and in my case, federal functions — federal property and life,” Walker told The Post. “But in this instance I did not have that authority.”
He said that he had to receive permission from the Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of Defense at the time before he could deploy troops despite receiving a request from the Capitol Police chief.
When asked how long it would have taken guardsmen to arrive at the Capitol from the D.C. National Guard’s headquarters, Walker noted, "With all deliberate speed — I mean, they’re right down the street,” about two miles away.
Former Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told the Post that the restrictions were put in place after the militarized response to protests over the summer were heavily criticized.
“After June, the authorities were pulled back up to the secretary of defense’s office,” McCarthy said. “Any time we would employ troops and guardsmen in the city, you had to go through a rigorous process. As you recall, there were events in the summer that got a lot of attention, and that was part of this.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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