Smoking Guns and Strong Links
Written by Elizabeth Moon.
The appearance online last week of Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller’s actual instructions to the Secretary of the Army concerning the “possible” use of the District of Columbia National Guard (DCNG) January 6, is the smoking gun here. As Secretary of Defense, Miller was appointed by Trump after his defeat and took his orders from Trump and was authorized to pass Trump’s orders to Secretaries of the military branches. Thus Miller’s instructions to the Secretary of the Army–from whom the command chain of the National Guard descends–would control any National Guard response.
In addition, a Vanity Fair article by Adam Ciralsky (published January 22, 2021) sealed the last holes in the chain of command. There is no written order from Trump, but there is a solid chain of evidence that what Miller did and did not do was authorized by Trump and accorded with his wishes. Ciralsky, who was “embedded” with Miller, has Miller’s own descriptions, and also talked to his two subordinates, Kash Patel and Ezra Cohen, as well as some other individuals he does not name, but quotes. He had very unusual access.
Click to see document.
Both the memorandum sent to the Secretary of the Army and the details of Miller’s actions as reported by Ciralsky are important to close the gaps, but first take a look at the memorandum. Supposedly (according to Trump and Miller) the limitations on the National Guard’s equipment and activity resulted from the D.C. Mayor’s complaints following the savage attacks on a peaceful demonstration in front of the White House July 1, 2020, when federal troops (undesignated, uniforms but no patched) tear-gassed and roughed up noisy but harmless demonstrators so the President could walk through Lafayette Park and pose in front of St. James Episcopal Church waving a Bible. Personally, I think Trump and Miller used that as an excuse for the more ridiculous limits placed on the DCNG troops, to assure that they would not be able to act effectively even if deployed.
Unlike the police, they were not to carry weapons of any kind, wear protective gear (helmets, body armor), use any riot control equipment, make physical contact with any of the demonstrators except to save their own lives or the lives of others, share any equipment with other law enforcement units, make use of any Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance assets (ISR) or conduct any ISR activities such as Incidence, Awareness, Assessment. They were not to employ helicopters or other air assets. They were not to conduct searches, seizures, arrests “or other law enforcement activity,” or to seek support from non-DCNG units (such as the Maryland National Guard which appeared later.)
These restrictions, coupled with the delay in deployment, meant that the DC National Guard was being sent into an active and very dangerous riot zone where the Capitol Police were being beaten, dragged, hit with poles and even a fire extinguisher with less equipment than some of the rioters. The several groups of trained ex-military/paramilitary wore combat quality helmets, body armor, face shields, gas masks…and carried tasers, knives, and some of them other weapons. Many others in the crowd wore helmets of some kind, body armor of a sort, and carried improvised (but effective) weapons.
What, exactly, could the National Guard–without any weapons, without any protective gear, without any riot control gear, with no ability to call in air support or assistance from another National Guard unit (e.g. Maryland NG)–be expected to do? Look impressive? Add to the casualty count? They’d have been helpless to prevent what actually happened, and coming on the scene late, would not have been able to stop what had started. And they required a direct order to do even that much.
The Secretary of the Army had to send them, and he needed the GO from the Secretary of Defense, who knew what Trump had told him…or rather, as the next post will explain, how Trump had sortakinda-but-not-exactly told him. But this is a very smoking gun, blazing hot, with fingerprints right on it, all identifiable.
