Pelosi taps D.C. National Guard head to lead House security

WASHINGTON — Maj. Gen. William Walker, commanding general of the District of Columbia National Guard, was tapped Friday to become the House’s first African American sergeant-at-arms as Congress sorts through the grave security failings revealed by the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday announced the appointment of Walker, who was closely involved with the security that day as he dispatched troops to back up overwhelmed Capitol Police.

He will replace Paul Irving, who resigned immediately after the insurrection. Walker’s testimony has been a crucial part of investigations into how hundreds of former President Donald Trump’s supporters could have invaded the Capitol and sent members of the House and Senate fleeing for their lives. National Guard troops were delayed in getting to the building as the rioters beat up police officers and smashed through windows and doors to get in.

Walker testified in a Senate hearing that the thenchief of the Capitol Police requested military support in a “voice cracking with emotion” in a 1:49 p.m. call that day as rioters began pushing toward the Capitol. Walker said he immediately relayed the request to the Army but did not learn until after 5 p.m. that the Defense Department had approved it. Guard troops who had been waiting on buses were then rushed to the Capitol, arriving in 18 minutes, Walker said.

While other officials have pointed blame at one another and spoken of meetings and conversations about the optics of a military presence, Walker has given the most detailed account of the delay. Pentagon officials have said they wanted to take time to understand precisely how National Guard troops would be used at the Capitol and what assignments they would be given.

Walker said he hoped that his testimony would “prevent such tragic events from ever occurring again” and that he was “sickened by the violence and destruction I witnessed that fateful day.”