HARTFORD—Following last week’s insurrection and breach of the U.S. Capitol as members of Congress were certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), the top Democrat of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee on the Legislative Branch, which oversees U.S. Capitol Police, held a press briefing outside of the Capitol in Hartford to discuss the lack of threat intelligence and the significant response time it took for the D.C. National Guard to arrive at the Capitol.

“On Wednesday, it was clear early on that the Capitol Police did not have the manpower or the ability to defend the United States Capitol from invasion and insurrection. And yet, it took four hours for the Department of Defense, specifically the National Guard, to get any kind of true presence to defend the Capitol from attack. That is unconscionable. That is unacceptable. This is America's temple of democracy, the United States Capitol,” said Murphy.

Murphy continued: “At 2:30, I was being evacuated from the United States Capitol and on the way to a safe room. It was crystal clear by 2:30 that the Capitol Police couldn't defend the building. And yet it took until 2:30 for even a request to be made to the Department of Defense for assistance. After the request was made, it took three hours for troops to arrive at the complex.”

Murphy concluded: “To me, Wednesday is a before and after moment. We need to take a look at radical reform in the way that the Capitol is protected. In part because I don't think this insurgency is over… There will be many other moments at which either the White House or the Capitol complex is at risk. Never again can it take four hours for the military to come to the defense of the Capitol or the White House.”

On Monday, Murphy along with U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) pressed the U.S. Department of Defense’s Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller for information regarding ways the Pentagon could speed up emergency deployments of U.S. Armed Forces in the event of future security breaches at the U.S. Capitol, and questioned the lack of threat intelligence and the significant response time it took for the D.C. National Guard to arrive at the Capitol.

A full transcript of Murphy’s opening remarks are below and you can listen to the question and answer session here:

“Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Chris Murphy, I have the honor of representing Connecticut in the United States Senate.

“Today, I'm sending a letter to the Acting Secretary of Defense, asking for a full review of the processes necessary for the military to defend the United States Capitol from attack. I hope to be able to release the text of this letter to you in a matter of minutes or hours. I apologize that we don't have the text of the letter. We're sending it with a handful of other members of Congress and we're just finalizing the details of it. But let me tell you about the reason for it.

“On Wednesday, it was clear early on that the Capitol Police did not have the manpower or the ability to defend the United States Capitol from invasion and insurrection. And yet, it took four hours for the Department of Defense, specifically the National Guard to get any kind of true presence to defend the Capitol from attack. That is unconscionable. That is unacceptable. This is America's temple of democracy, the United States Capitol. Inside it that day, was the joint session of the United States Congress, virtually every member of the Senate, every member of the House, and the number one, two and three in the line of succession to the presidency.

“We're going to have to ask a lot of questions about why the Capitol Police weren't able to protect the complex from attack. But one of the key questions is why we weren't able to draw upon Department of Defense resources much more quickly, in order to prevent that debacle from occurring on Wednesday.

“Let me tell you a little bit about the state of the existing law. Right now, we require the mayor of the city and the Chief of Capitol Police to make a request to the National Guard for protection. Now, in this case, as we know, the mayor made a request to the National Guard for help. That request was approved with limitations. The guard was sent to do traffic duty around the White House and was not equipped with the lethal means that the Guard normally possesses. The Capitol Police did not make a request to the Guard to deploy and preposition resources around the United States Capitol.

“That afternoon, when it was clear that the Capitol was going to be breached, and that the Capitol Police could not protect it, they began the process of requesting assistance to the Capitol. But that process, as we've learned, was cumbersome and laborious. It apparently included getting sign off from the board of directors of the Capitol Police a process that looks like it took at least 30 to 60 minutes. And so by the time the Capitol Police and the mayor had gone through the process of requesting the National Guard deployment, it was 2:30.

“At 2:30, I was being evacuated from the United States Capitol and on the way to a safe room. It was crystal clear by 2:30 that the Capitol Police couldn't defend the building. And yet it took until 2:30 for even a request to be made to the Department of Defense for assistance. After the request was made, it took three hours for troops to arrive at the complex.

“Now, there's good reason why it took three hours. We were we rely on the National Guard to defend the United States Capitol. The National Guard, of course, are individuals who have other jobs. And so while there was a handful of National Guard personnel doing traffic duty that day, the National Guard that had to be brought to the United States Capitol had to leave their other jobs, had to go get into uniform, had to muster at the armory, before they could arrive to defend the Capitol.

“You can see how many breakdowns occurred. First, the refusal to pre-position National Guard assets. Second, the delay in making the request for National Guard relief. But then third, the amount of time that it actually took troops to arrive at the Capitol.

“To me, Wednesday is a before and after moment. We need to take a look at radical reform in the way that the Capitol is protected. In part because I don't think this insurgency is over.

“Obviously, there are big questions about what these lunatics are planning for this weekend and next week. But I think you have to assume that this insurgency against the federal government is going to continue into 2021. There will be many other moments at which either the White House or the Capitol complex is at risk. Never again, can it take four hours for the military to come to the defense of the Capitol or the White House. Ask yourself this: why on earth do we spend $700 billion on the military every year if it can't even protect the U.S. Capitol, from attack?

“Now there are rules in place about when active duty troops can be involved in domestic crowd control. And there are good reasons for that. We had a whole debate earlier this year about the belief that troops were being overused in the control of peaceful demonstrations. But included in this review has to be a question of whether the National Guard is actually equipped and ready and sufficient to protect the Capitol or whether we need a quicker ability or active duty forces that exist in and around Washington D.C., to be able to come to the Capitol's defense.

“It may be that the protocols and the structures we have in place right now to defend the Capitol and the White House are wholly insufficient for this new moment that we exist in today, when there is some kind of organized insurgency to the federal government that still exists and still presents a threat to our government. 

“So the letter that I'm going to be sending to the Acting Secretary of Defense today will ask for a complete review of both the statutes and the protocols around how the Department of Defense reacts to threats to the United States Capitol. And for changes to be put in place as soon as possible. Yes, we're going to have a lot bigger presence in and around the Capitol for the next 30 days. There are thousands of National Guard troops that are now permanently deployed to protect the Capitol, and to protect the inauguration. But that presence is only guaranteed for 30 days. And if we're not going to have a permanent force encircling the Capitol, which is not my wish, then we have to have the ability for the military to be able to respond to an attack within 30 to 60 minutes, not four to five hours, as happened on Wednesday.

“So we are all I think, you know, working jointly together on efforts to learn lessons from Wednesday, and to make the reforms necessary to have a successful and peaceful inauguration. But I think we are all also working on individual issues, which draw particular concern for me, this issue of the nature of the military's response is very concerning.

“I have spoken directly to the Secretary of the Army about this already. I had several conversations with the Chief of Capitol Police prior to his resignation. I spoke to many of my colleagues over the weekend about this. And I plan to pursue it in the coming days and we'll be sending this correspondence to the Department of Defense within the next several hours.”

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