The commanding general of the Washington, DC, National Guard testified Wednesday that he did not need authorization from Pentagon leaders before deploying troops in response to protests at the nation’s capital last summer but that changed in the days before the January 6 insurrection.
The shift in guidance, according to DC National Guard Commanding Maj. Gen. William Walker, was communicated in a January 5 memo that stated he was required to seek approval from the Secretary of the Army and Defense before preparing troops to respond to a civil disturbance. “It required me to seek authorization from the Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of Defense to essentially protect my guardsmen,” he told senators during a hearing on security failures related to the Capitol building attack. RELATED: Capitol Hill security increased around chatter about March 4 conspiracies “So, no civil disturbance equipment could be authorized unless it was came from the Secretary of Defense… the secretary of defense, told me I needed his permission to escalate to have that kind of protection,” Walker added, calling the January 5 memo “unusual.” Asked about the Army’s response to former US Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund’s request for additional forces, Walker said he was “stunned.” “I was frustrated. I was just as stunned as everybody else on the call,” he said. Walker also testified that it took Army leaders more than three hours to authorize the use of troops to help quell the January 6 insurrection, suggesting the response time fell well short of “sprint speed,” as characterized by the top US military official. Walker told lawmakers that around 1:49 p.m. on January 6 he received a “frantic call from” Sund, whose “voice was cracking with emotion, indicating that there was a dire emergency at the Capitol and he requested the immediate assistance of as many available National Guardsmen that I could muster.” ‘They had the gear’ Asked how he would have responded to the call if the additional DoD restrictions had not been put in place, Walker said he would have “immediately pulled all the guardsmen that were supporting the Metropolitan Police Department.” “They had the gear and the vehicles.” Walker said. “I would have had them assemble in the armory, and then get on buses and go straight to the armory and report to the most ranking Capitol Police officer they saw and take direction, and further.
