Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy defended the rapid response of a limited D.C. National Guard active force while dodging blame for intelligence failures that allowed rioters to enter the Capitol building Wednesday.
“Getting back to the pure intelligence, it was all over the board,” McCarthy told defense reporters during a Pentagon phone briefing Thursday, citing protest size estimates that ranged from 2,000 to 80,000.
“It was very hard to make that determination of what we were dealing with,” McCarthy said, noting that the Army relies on intelligence gathered by local law enforcement to assess an adequate force posture. Crowd profiles were expected to be similar to peaceful demonstrations that took place in the capital on Nov. 14 and Dec. 12.
In the 50 states, governors authorize the use of their National Guard. Due to the District of Columbia’s unique status, local authorities must ask the Army to authorize the use of the National Guard, but local authorities do not have jurisdiction over the Capitol grounds. That responsibility rests with the Capitol Police.
House sergeant-at-arms Paul Irving submitted his resignation Thursday, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi requested the resignation of Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund following the melee that forced members of Congress to evacuate and led to four deaths.
McCarthy said that, as of Sunday, the Capitol Police said they needed no more than the 340 traffic- and crowd-control National Guard members already requested by Washington D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser to assure the safety of pro-Trump protesters angry about the electoral vote count in Congress.
However, the mission of protecting peaceful assembly quickly evolved to a civil disturbance response, the Army secretary said.
At about 2 p.m., rioters forced their way past Capitol fences and overwhelmed a 2,000-strong Capitol Police force. That’s when McCarthy said a call was made requesting authorization for the D.C. National Guard to provide support.
An unarmed Guard force directing traffic at 30 locations across the capital had to return to the armory to equip with riot gear.
D.C. National Guard spokesman Senior Master Sgt. Craig Clapper told the Washington Examiner Tuesday that Bowser was insistent that the D.C. National Guard not be armed. National Guard members carried no batons or shields and did not wear protective vests or helmets for their crowd control mission.
“We’ve explicitly been told there is no weaponry of any kind for this mission,” Clapper said ahead of the protests. “Fingers crossed that nothing goes too crazy.”
McCarthy said from just 340 active National Guard members, the entire 1,100-member force was activated, equipped, and in position at the Capitol in less than two hours. The Maryland and Virginia governors also authorized their National Guard members to assist.
“Yesterday was a very short fuse,” McCarthy said, comparing the response to the George Floyd protests in June 2019.
The Army secretary said the Floyd protests that began in Minnesota gradually spread across the nation, giving local authorities several days to prepare a response. Still, fear of a June 1 Lafayette Park-style clearing of peaceful protesters is widely believed to have influenced the small, unarmed National Guard presence, even though the National Guard did not engage protesters at the time.
A National Guard helicopter did buzz low to the dispersing crowd, an incident that is still under investigation.
McCarthy also said that while acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller authorized the additional National Guard members and promised reinforcements, later calls with Vice President Mike Pence and congressional leaders were informational and not part of the request.
The White House was kept informed, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said, but President Trump was not part of the calls.
Early Thursday, McCarthy joined Bowser at a press conference to announce the erection of 7-foot, nonscalable fencing around the Capitol and the deployment of 6,200 National Guard members from seven states for a minimum 30-day mission that will protect the capital well beyond the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration.
