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The Pentagon has prohibited members of the National Guard from being armed or in riot gear, interacting with protesters, or using surveillance and air assets without the approval of the Secretary of Defense, according to memoranda issued at the request of the mayor of the District of Columbia. . .
The DC National Guard was allowed to deploy a rapid response force only as a last resort.
Capitol Police. who reports to Congress and has the task of ensuring their protection, did not request support from the Guard until Wednesday, when the concentration called by the incumbent president intensified when the Capitol building was attacked.
Around noon Wednesday, the Capitol Police Chief enlisted the help of senior Pentagon officials along with city officials.
One of the officials familiar with the phone call said that the police chief confirmed that he needed the help of the National Guard, and the answer, which came after a moment of silence from an official of the Ministry of Defense, was that this would not be possible. .
The official responded on behalf of the defense secretary, the de facto commander of the DC National Guard, who was not present, arguing that he did not want to hear the “optics” of the Capitol soldiers, two district officials said.
The Democratic Mayor of Washington DC, Muriel Bowser, confirmed these details in an interview with The Washington Post, explaining that the Capitol Police “made it very clear that they needed exceptional help, including from the National Guard.” There was concern among the military about the presence of armed military personnel around the Capitol. ”Another concern was the extent to which Congress invited this intervention.
A Defense Ministry official said the general on the phone did not formally reject the request, but only underscored the negative image created by the presence of the military on Capitol Hill, a point with which the mayor agreed and later discussed the matter. with superiors. their.
He added that Bowser had agreed that DC police would come to the aid of the police on Capitol Hill, and that the Guard would assist DC police outside the building.
The quoted official also said the military wanted to be a last resort solution, while military officials had urged Bowser to request additional support from federal police forces, which he did only on Wednesday.
Senior Pentagon leaders then evaluated the request and activated the National Guard and then asked the governors of neighboring states to send in reinforcements of their own guards.
PHOTO EPA-EFE
At the same time, officials removed some of the mission’s limitations, allowing riot gear, but not weapons, to establish a security perimeter around the Capitol.
Instead, lawmakers and other state officials, including the governors of Maryland and Virginia, said they wanted the Pentagon to move faster in transitioning between missions and in calling in National Guard troops from neighboring states.
Larry Hogan, the Republican governor of Maryland, said he was called by one of the leaders of the House, Steny Hoyer, who told him that he was in a safe place with the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and the leader of the Democratic minority Chuck Schumer.
“He was on the phone with Hoyer asking us to send out the Guard. He yelled at Schumwer and said we had permission to do so, and I contradicted him: ‘I’m telling you we don’t have permission.’
In the three hours that the Pentagon changed the mission of the National Guard, the Capitol police were overwhelmed and protesters stormed the building, where lawmakers were forced to take refuge and barricade themselves in their offices.
The Pentagon then allowed federal law enforcement to evacuate protesters from the building, reluctant to send guards to the building. However, by dusk, members of the National Guard had joined with Capitol Police and federal and law enforcement officials to restore a security perimeter around the building.
On Thursday, National Guard forces were dispatched from several states.
Within 24 hours of the Capitol security breach, Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller called the violence “reprehensible and contrary to the principles of the United States Constitution.”
Ryan McCarthy, the United States Military Secretary, the de facto commander of the District of Columbia National Guard on behalf of the president, given that DC is not a state, said 6,200 National Guard soldiers, including those from other states, will be deployed in the city and its surroundings. the city to ensure safety.
Presidential authority over the DC National Guard is delegated to the Secretary of Defense and then to the Secretary of the Army, who makes command decisions.
McCarthy said Thursday that the soldiers acted as quickly as they could once local authorities called for additional support, explaining that officials did not anticipate incidents of this nature, although calls for violent action were launched on online platforms.
A defense official explained that the military is issuing memoranda outlining the parameters of a mission, and the intervention limits set prior to Wednesday’s certification of the presidential election results were understandable given that DC officials have requested the dispatch of about 340 agents. of the National Guard in charge of monitoring traffic.
The official said that the nature of the initial mission requested by DC and the command structure of the National Guard in the District of Columbia are factors that most likely impeded the action of authorities to dispatch agents quickly to the Capitol.
Pentagon leaders defended the timing of the Guard’s reaction by mentioning the confusion in reviewing the initial mission across multiple agencies and jurisdictions during a rapidly developing chaotic situation.
McCarthy explained that after the violence broke out at 2 p.m. (local time), he spoke with Bowser and agreed with an additional 200 soldiers from the National Guard.
He then informed Miller that he had authorized the dispatch of all available members of the DC Guard, some 1,000 soldiers, to reach the DC Armory in 4 hours.
During all this time, the National Guard agents were removed from their mission limited to traffic and called to put on the revolt equipment, being directed to assist the police forces on the Capitol.
Context
Federal police said last week that they have a comprehensive plan to ensure the security of Congress as elected officials ratify Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
However, what was seen was a failure, according to Congressman Tim Ryan, chairman of the appropriation committee for the legislative branch of the House of Representatives, which oversees the budget allocated to the Capitol Police.
“Clearly there have been major strategic and planning failures by the Capitol Police, the Legislature and anyone else involved in coordinating this effort here,” said Ryan, a Democrat from Ohio.
“This is the United States Capitol building, with the United States Congress in session, dealing with the presidential election process,” he added.
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