Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy has hit out at the Department of Defense for its “almost arcane and overly bureaucratic” process that slowed the response to the riot at the Capitol earlier this month.
"There's too many people that are involved with the decision, and ultimately no one, one single person responsible," McCarthy told CNN in an interview on Monday. "It makes it very difficult and slow in the response."
CNN has previously reported that confusion and bureaucracy in the Pentagon, the government of Washington, D.C., and the Capitol Police hampered efforts to mobilize the National Guard. The Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, and the Interior have all announced investigations into their roles in preparing for and responding to the incident at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
"You saw a lot of people run into friction in support of the Capitol Hill police,” McCarthy added. “It came far too close. Something like this should never happen. This country has the talent and the resources to do anything. But the pre-planning and coordination and the intelligence were not really managed well, and we were not in a position to be successful that day as a country.”
He went on to say that the Army is currently working with the Secret Service on determining if any of the National Guard soldiers that will provide security during the upcoming inauguration will require additional background checks.
"We don't know the size and scale of the problem," McCarthy told CNN. "We are working with federal law enforcement to vet our people, obviously ones in particular supporting this operation. But you would do that in most cases."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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