Pentagon intentionally delayed the deployment of the National Guard on January 6, 2021

The Department of Defense inspector General received a letter from the Committee on House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight. The letter called on the Inspector General to correct the Department of Defense’s erroneous January 6, 2021, report. The Subcommittee discovered that the Department of Defense intentionally delayed the National Guard’s deployment, and that the Inspector General concealed the extent and cause for the delay.

From the Committee on House Administration:

Given the D.C. National Guard’s history of success supporting both the Federal Government and the City Government in responding to civil unrest, and the significant role the Guard played in ensuring the safety and security of Members of Congress at the Capitol on January 6, it is essential that Report No. 2022-039 accurately reflect objective facts so that we can identify the serious problems, abuses, and deficiencies to recommend corrective actions consistent with the Inspector General Act of 19782. Throughout the Subcommittee’s extensive investigation into the failures of January 6, 2021, we have discovered numerous flaws and objective inaccuracies in the report that your office has yet to appropriately address.
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In March of 2021, D.C. National Guard Major General William Walker testified before Congress that the Guard’s response to the Capitol on January 6 was delayed by senior DoD officials. In April of 2024, Colonel Earl Matthews, Major General Walker’s legal advisor, Command Sergeant Major Michael Brooks, Major General Walker’s Senior Enlisted Officer, Brigadier General Aarond Dean, Major General Walker’s Adjutant General, and Captain Timothy Nick, Major General Walker’s Aide-De-Camp, testified before Congress that the Secretary of the Army, Ryan McCarthy, was not in communication with the Guard and that their response to the Capitol was “most certainly delayed [by the Army].”4 These key DCNG personnel were intentionally not included as witnesses by the DoD IG.5 The Subcommittee is deeply concerned that the DoD IG’s failure to interview witnesses who testify to an account of events on January 6 which are contradictory to the report’s conclusions, erode any suggestion that this report is correct or unbiased.
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A report that includes biased and incomplete statements to favor the Department of Defense and U.S. Army while disparaging the D.C. National Guard fails to represent the DoD IG’s philosophy and practice of producing unbiased, objective, impartial, and independent reviews as well as recommendations grounded in evidence and free from external influence.19 Therefore, we are left with no choice but to reject Report No. 2022-039 and request that you publish a formal correction on behalf of the 10,43220 21 congressional staff members and 535 Members of Congress who donned gas masks and retreated from their Chambers while the DCNG sat on buses waiting, less than 2 miles from the Capitol at the D.C. Armory, for communication from Secretary Ryan McCarthy

Additional Reading:

Committee on House Administration Staff. (2024, November 21). DoD Inspector General Concealed January 6 Evidence. Press Releases. Link.

Committee on house Administration Staff. (2024, November 20). HBO Footage illustrates Sec. of the Army’s false statements to Congressional Leadership on 1/6/21. YouTube. Link.

Loudermilk, B. (2024, November 21). Barry Loudermilk letter to the Inspector General, Department of Defense. Committee on House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight. Link.

Category: Big Pentagon, Donald Trump