Four whistleblowers with the D.C. National Guard made a number of disturbing revelations when testifying before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.
The committee heard testimony from Command Sergeant Major Michael Brooks, who is now retired but continues to serve with the Compliance and Adjudication Division of the Office of Information and Communications, Technology, and Services of the Bureau of Industry and Security.
“I served as the command senior enlisted leader of the D.C. National Guard from December 2017 to December of 2022. As the most senior noncommissioned officer in the organization, I reported directly to the commanding general … from 2017 until his retirement and selection as the 38th Sergeant at Arms for the House of Representatives, my commander was Major General William J. Walker. As his senior enlisted advisor, I reported only to him and I was with him throughout the days before, the day of, and the subsequent weeks and months that followed the events of January 6, 2021,” Brooks said.
He went on to cast doubt on the accuracy of the DOD’s IG report while suggesting that a coverup is underway. “ I believe those who steered the narrative of the DOD IG report did so not for historical documentation or to enhance future military responsibility capability, but to protect and advance individuals who sought to shield themselves from responsibility, to overly enhance their role and perceive significance in a critical moment in the history of our nation’s democracy,” he said.
“In truth, their actions, no matter how innocent they believed them to be, have led to an awful mark on our military and shown an incredible lack of respect for the service of the men and women who served in the D.C. National Guard before, during, and after January 6, 2021. Trust in our Army’s most senior leadership was lost.”
Brooks went on to testify that a lack of understanding of “just how unique the DC National Guard is and the responsibility that is delegated from the President to the Secretary of Defense and further delegated to the Secretary of the Army,” led to critical delays on January 6.
The National Guard veteran went on to confirm that Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund first placed an urgent call for support from the guard shortly before 2 p.m. on January 6, adding that he could not make guarantees as to whether their support would have prevented the breach. “What I can tell you with absolute certainty is that we had a force equipped and ready to respond and that despite the inaccuracies of the DOD IG report, we had a plan and would have liked the opportunity to try. Instead we waited for hours, less than two miles east of the capital, knowing our capital had been breached and not understanding why we had not received the authorization to respond,” he said.
After pointing to years of questions surrounding the National Guard’s lack of involvement with defending the Capitol, Brooks said “the truth is, we were there and we were ready. We just weren’t authorized to respond, and that is difficult to explain.”
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