Army Leadership Intentionally Weakened US Capitol Security Ahead of Attack
On Wednesday, the Commander for the DC National Guard testified before Congress and explained that his ability to activate his reservist troops had been intentionally hampered in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, despite the overwhelming danger of a possible attack. He also told lawmakers that he would have “immediately” activated his forces to assist US Capitol Police on Jan. 6, if his authority had not been restricted by Army leadership and the Pentagon.
General William J. Walker explained to the Senate Rules Committee and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee at yesterday’s hearing evaluating the security breakdown, “I would have sent them there immediately as soon as I hung up.” Walker continued, “My next call would have been to my subordinate commanders, to get every single guardsman in this building and everybody that's helping the Metropolitan Police...to the Capitol, without delay" to report to the most senior USCP officer on duty.
Commander Walker testified that he sent a request on Jan. 1 to Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy, for approval to assist the DC Metro Police on Jan. 6. Walker explained, “The DC National Guard provides support to the Metropolitan Police Department, the US Park Police, US Secret Service and other federal and district law enforcement agencies in response to planned rallies, marches, protests and other large scale First Amendment activity on a routine basis.”
Moreover, Walker detailed how his team is properly outfitted and trained for “off-site quick reaction force, an element of guardsmen held in reserve…postured to quickly respond to an urgent and immediate need for assistance by civil authorities.” Commander Walker testified that a response letter to his Jan. 1, request to assist Metro Police, was delivered from Secretary McCarthy on Jan. 5, but that the memo specifically withheld all authority employ a quick reaction force.
The McCarthy order also demanded a “concept of operation” to be submitted by Walker, that specified how the DC National Guard would specifically proceed if they were to deploy backup forces at any point. Walker stated that he found the order, restricting his authority to intervene and asking for detailed schematics on any plans to assist, to be “unusual.”
Commander Walker also relayed that he made an urgent plea for backup assistance at the US Capitol to Army Senior Leadership, immediately following the panicked request from Capitol Police Chief Sund at approximately 1:49 pm that day. Walker confirmed he did not hear back from senior army officials until 5:08 pm — three hours and 19 minutes following the urgent request for immediate assistance. Walker reiterated in his testimony that if not for that initial order from McCarthy limiting his troop mobility, he would have been able to immediately deploy Guard troops, who were well-trained and knew exactly what to do.
When asked about the possible reasons for limiting his authority on Jan. 6, Walker explained that two members of army leadership were specifically worried about "optics." Those two men were General Charles Flynn, brother to former Trump NSA Michael Flynn, and General Walter Piatt. "Both [Flynn and Piatt] said it wouldn't be in their best military advice to advise the Secretary of the Army to have uniform Guards Members at the Capitol during the election confirmation," Walker testified. Walker also confirmed that “optics” were never an issue for any of the Black Lives Matters protest deployments throughout the year.
It is important to note that the same army leadership, who was responsible for curtailing Commander Walker’s ability to provide security support, intentionally lied about Charles Flynn’s presence during the decision-making process. Not only was Flynn involved in the key meeting currently being heavily scrutinized in the security failures at the Capitol on Jan. 6, he was also in the room during the tense phone call when Capitol Police and DC officials pleaded with the Pentagon to dispatch the National Guard in an emergency response.
After falsely denying his involvement in the decision to withhold extra assistance, Flynn eventually told the Washinton Post that he had been in the room during the frantic call, but he now claims he left the room before the call had ended. Flynn also said he assumed that Secretary McCarthy would “soon take action” and that he needed to be “in [his] office to assist in executing the decision.” This excuse seems implausible given the fact that Army leadership seemed content to lie until they got caught. Additionally, Flynn not check up on the matter during the three hours in which he presumably waited in “his office” and he gave no indication that he received any further instruction on how to assist.
The day before a mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol, Homeland Security officials warned “domestic extremists” would be taking part in the pro-Trump rallies planned for Jan. 6. Authorities had been actively monitoring far-right groups like the Proud Boys as well as Facebook events with thousands of confirmed participants, some of whom explicitly outlined their plans to march on Congress and rally at the Capitol.
The two most consistent excuses throughout the testimony on Capitol security failures so far have been that: no one in leadership was really in possession of credible threat warnings, and those in charge at the Pentagon restricted the ability to respond before Jan. 6, due to “optics.” What makes these arguments unconvincing, is that no other large-scale rally or protest of this kind had ever had security restrictions on the basis of “optics,” and there was intel available on the level of the impending threat.
The day before Trump’s mob descended upon the United States Capitol Building, FBI Officials in Virginia submitted a report, that included a direct warning about the serious threat that was coming, and that should have sounded an alarm on the impending attack. The notification was submitted to the bureau’s Washington field office on Jan. 5 by the FBI’s Norfolk office in southern Virginia, and it was also passed on to other law enforcement agencies to caution them.
While many officials in charge claimed that they did not receive the memo in time to effectively change course, it is outlandish to think that they weren’t aware of the many public threats that had been made online and by the president himself. Additionally, 81 pages of redacted internal documents from the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Federal Protective Service, have recently been released based on a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
The Federal Protective Service is a law enforcement and security agency within the DHS that protects 9,500 federal properties all over the Unites States, but does not serve the US Capitol Complex. The agency maintains 13,000 contracted security guards and was responsible for supplying officers to Portland this summer for controversial protection services. FPS Director L. Eric Patterson was responsible for giving DHS officers from other agencies the authority to secure the Portland protest without proper training, according to a critical report from the Office of the Inspector General.
The new FOIA documents also show that DHS officials had intel that tens of thousands of Trump supporters would participate in Stop the Steal Trump rally, just blocks from the US Capitol where the votes were being counted. The report shows a focus on the Proud Boys White Nationalist group, including details on their activities and accommodations in DC. DHS officials also noted dozens of Facebook events in the reports, including some from militant groups, and wrote that they expected groups to march to the Capitol.
On Jan. 3, FSP’s regional director told leaders in an email that numerous permits had been approved by the National Park Service and sold-out hotels indicated that there would be “large crowds,” including “the Proud Boys [and] many other smaller groups.” The Capitol was also identified as a location where Trump supporters were expected to swarm, but it was noted: “we do not anticipate any threats against federal facilities, based on the nature of this event.”
The investigative arm of the FPS ultimately completed a formal bulletin notification to National Capital Region law enforcement, the General Services Administration, and other divisions within DHS — agents warned of general threats posed by the Jan. 6 rally and cautioned that there was a potential for violence. “Domestic extremists to include anarchist extremists, anti government extremists, and racially motivated violent extremists will likely participate in First Amendment protected activities and the use of activities as an opportunity to promote their ideologies and motivate followers to promote violence,” the bulletin specified.
A joint FBI and DHS intelligence bulletin was issued Tuesday night, expressing a possible security risk at the Capitol on March 4. "As of late February, an unidentified group of Militant Violent Extremists (MVE's) discussed plans to take control of the US Capitol...on or about 4 March." The warning also cites May 20 as a target conspiracy date.
While federal agencies have confirmed that Capitol security has been significantly fortified since Jan 6, it’s telling that these warnings this week are not as serious in nature as the previous riot. Security bulletins now being provided publicly means either: the federal government failed to complete an appropriate bulletin for Jan. 6 entirely, or a formal memo for the Jan 6, attack was completed, but has been publicly concealed thus far.
We are able to conclude several things at this point. Members of the Oath Keepers paramilitary group were directly involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection, and the group itself has been fueled by members of Congress. We also know that the Oath Keepers militant group has drawn in thousands of people from the military and law-enforcement communities. We were told by Commander Walker that he was directly impeded from providing critical troop support in an order from the Secretary of the Army a day ahead of the Capitol attack.
We have confirmation from several sources that the Pentagon and Army Leadership were in charge of giving the order to allow the DC National Guard to move, and one of the senior commanders in the room who was assisting with the decision was General Charles Flynn. General Flynn is the brother of a Trump loyalist who is no doubt indebted for a federal pardon, and he was one of two officials who was in favor of the “unusual” decision to withhold back-up support based on “optics.”
Moreover, General Flynn and the rest of the Army leadership team lied to the public about Flynn’s participation in the mammoth security failure, and officials at the Pentagon were complicit in their silence while it happened. The nearly four hour delay on Jan. 6, that was intentionally set in motion ahead of the attack, cost people their lives and injured over 140 officers. We have yet to hear a credible excuse or reasonable explanation that would justify such a pre-meditated scenario and delay.
Amee Vanderpool writes the SHERO Newsletter and is an attorney, published author, contributor to newspapers and magazines and analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
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This is horrifying beyond belief.
Excellent article and thanks for the most pertinent video clips! Fascinating to hear Commander Walker’s account of what happened. The article draws together some of the info that I had read and suspected into a more cohesive confirmation of what I had thought.
Makes me furious that Trump, the Flynns, and many other military members and members of Congress are co-conspirators yet they are free to go about their lives without consequences!