Exclusive: Secret Commandos with Shoot-to-Kill Authority Were at the Capitol
By: William M. Arkin (Newsweek)
Three days before the Jan. 6th insurrection, here was a secret meeting in Quantico to address existing contingency plans to deal with the potential "terrorist attack" on the capitol. Jeffrey A. Rosen, the acting Attorney General decided to deploy forces to protect our democracy. This protective action would NOT have occurred if William Barr hadn't resigned about two weeks before the insurrection.
The Jan. 6th insurrection was NOT just a group of tourists. The threat of this White-wing terrorism still exists. Donald Trump is the embodiment of dictatorship. He failed on Jan. 6th butt he has NOT stopped trying to destroy American democracy.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
In this daily series, Newsweek explores the steps that led to the January 6 Capitol Riot.
On Sunday, January 3, the heads of a half-dozen elite government special operations teams met in Quantico, Virginia, to go over potential threats, contingencies, and plans for the upcoming Joint Session of Congress. The meeting, and the subsequent deployment of these shadowy commandos on January 6, has never before been revealed.
Right after the New Year, Jeffrey A. Rosen, the acting Attorney General on January 6, approved implementation of long-standing contingency plans dealing with the most extreme possibilities: an attack on President Donald Trump or Vice President Mike Pence, a terrorist attack involving a weapon of mass destruction, and a declaration of measures to implement continuity of government, requiring protection and movement of presidential successors.
Rosen made a unilateral decision to take the preparatory steps to deploy Justice Department and so-called "national" forces. There was no formal request from the U.S. Capitol Police, the Secret Service, or the Metropolitan Police Department—in fact, no external request from any agency. The leadership in Justice and the FBI anticipated the worst and decided to act independently, the special operations forces lurking behind the scenes.
Secret commandos, authorized to shoot to kill, were at the Capitol. FBI and ATF law enforcement confront supporters of President Donald Trump as they protested inside the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC.Brent Stirton/Getty Images
"I believe that DOJ [Department of Justice] reasonably prepared for contingencies ahead of January 6, understanding that there was considerable uncertainty as to how many people would arrive, who those people would be, and precisely what purposes they would pursue," Rosen later told Congress. He stressed that his department "no frontline role with respect to crowd control," that they were focused on "high-risk" operations.
The contingency units meeting on January 3 included the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team, the FBI's national "Render Safe" team, an FBI SWAT team from the Baltimore Field Office, Special Response Teams from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the U.S. Marshals Service Special Operations Group.
All of these assets were "pre-deployed" and ready to go over the weekend of January 2-3, staging out of the FBI Academy complex in Quantico, 30 miles south of the Capitol building. If a WMD or terrorist attack occurred, the units were to move via helicopter to the site of the incident. The activation of the catastrophic response units, operating under plans already approved by President Trump, entailed an automatic green light allowing federal responders to take the initiative and spare no resources, including shoot-to-kill authority, to deal with this most extraordinary condition.
The 350-strong Hostage Rescue Team was established in 1983 to be a national level counterterrorist unit, offering a "tactical" option—a military option—for the most extraordinary law enforcement situations within the United States. Prior to 9/11, HRT was primarily a domestic counter-terrorism unit; after the attack, the team took on additional missions, including working with the Joint Special Operations Command overseas in high-profile raids and the targeting of high-value targets.
Jeffrey Rosen made a unilateral decision to take the preparatory steps to deploy Justice Department and so-called "national" forces. Here, Rosen removes his face mask as he speaks at the Justice Department on October 21, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Yuri Gripas-Pool/Getty Images)
The FBI is the lead agency for what insiders call the "no-fail, 24-hour, 7-day-a-week, 365-day-per-year response capability." In 1999, the Bureau was assigned the responsibility for the render safe mission, a euphemism for extraordinary and highly classified actions that are slated to take place in cases of a lost, stolen, or hidden nuclear or radiological weapon. The FBI had already been given primary responsibility for domestic counterterrorism, including quasi-military action against armed groups inside the United States. President Bill Clinton approved new rules that assigned "national response" to the FBI (it had previously resided in the Defense Department). The FBI would form the dedicated rapid response force, and technical response assets from various departments would be seconded to this so-called National Mission Force, operating under a National Asset Commander, an FBI officer appointed by and reporting to the Attorney General and ultimately the White House.
In April 2005, the FBI consolidated its various extraordinary response teams under the National Asset Response Unit (NARU), responsible for the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The dedicated rapid response force, ready to deploy anywhere in the United States within two hours of notification, reached operational readiness during the Obama administration, with dedicated national response elements from the Department of Energy and augmentation from the military's Joint Special Operations Command.
The overlap of counterterrorism and WMD forged this extraordinary force, operating under Top Secret and compartmentalized presidential directives. The National Mission Force, however, also had to plan for other crisis response contingencies, such as hostage rescue and continuity of government. Those latter functions could also fall under the operational control of the Secret Service (an element of the Department of Homeland Security) or to military commanders who were operating in response to immediate emergencies.
Most of the literature mistakenly says that the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC)—including, famously, the units formerly known as Delta Force and SEAL Team 6—is the primary national mission force. Although overseas, the National Mission Force often operates as a Joint Special Operations Task Force (with FBI augmentation), made up of dedicated teams assigned to JSOC, inside the United States, the FBI is in charge.
On the morning of January 6, most of these forces staged closer to downtown Washington, particularly after intelligence was received indicating a possible threat to FBI headquarters building or the FBI's Washington Field Office. FBI tactical teams arrived on Capitol Hill early in the day to assist in the collection of evidence at sites—including the Republican and Democratic party national headquarters—where explosive devices were found. FBI SWAT teams and snipers were deployed to secure nearby congressional office buildings. Other FBI agents provided selective security around the U.S. Capitol and protection to congressional members and staff.
A tactical team of the Hostage Rescue Team was one of the first external federal agencies to actually enter the Capitol after protestors breached the building. In addition to augmentation of emergency security assets, one team coordinated with the U.S. Capitol Police and Secret Service to provide additional safeguarding of Vice President Pence, who had been moved to the underground parking structure beneath the Capitol, from where he was supposed to evacuate. But Pence refused to leave the building and stayed underground instead.
The presence of these extraordinary forces under the control of the Attorney General—and mostly operating under contingency plans that Congress and the U.S. Capitol Police were not privy to—added an additional layer of highly armed responders. The role that the military played in this highly classified operation is still unknown, though FBI sources tell Newsweek that military operators seconded to the FBI, and those on alert as part of the National Mission Force, were present in the metropolitan area. The lingering question is: What was it that the Justice Department saw that provoked it to see January 6 as an extraordinary event, something that the other agencies evidently missed.
CORRECTION (Jan. 3, 2022, 10:437 p.m.): This story originally stated the office of the 'Democrat' Party but has been corrected to note 'Democratic Party' office.
The planned overthrow of the US government on Jan. 6th caused Jeffrey A. Rosen (the acting Attorney General) to take dramatic steps to protect democracy.
Many Trumpanzees are still in denial about the serious nature of this threat (which still exists).
The capitol needs sunken high pressure water cannons that raise at the next attack and there will be one as long as Trump still has magats.
more like elevated 50 cal machine guns with overlapping fields of fire for the next maga insurrection...
What percentage of your posts are fantasies about killing people, do you think?
And some hounds. Dealing with an angry mob is not as much fun without releasing some hounds.
That works for me also.
I'm guessing about the same number of your posts that actually address the seeded topic.
.
.
Maybe the Capitol Police should station Quasimodo on the roof to pour melted lead on angry mobs.
It's more efficient and economical to simply shoot lead.
Greg, I hate to tell you butt since you've missed two periods, you may be pregnant.
LOL!
(Nut it is fun to monkey around with the language a bit . . . to better express an idea).
Thanx.
It is fun to monkey around.
I see what you did there.
But shoot who?
It was so confusing. The only black people were the Capitol Police, some newsies and some politicians.
( and the FBI Swat team and Hostage Rescue Team and the NG, the Metro Police and Secret Service
and the EMTs picking up the dead people in the parking lot )
We don't shoot white protesters whether they are breaking down the doors of Congress
or chasing the police out of a Seattle precinct or having nighty riots in Portland.
After all, we are a White Christian nation.
too much /s?
Tell that to Ashli Babbitt.!
More Jan. 6 attendees died from natural causes or drug overdose than by being shot by LE. It’s a good thing I wasn’t in the shoes of those employed to protect the Capital or that ratio would be reversed. I’ll gladly dig up Ashli’s corpse and tell her that.
I think the most entertaining death was from stupidity.
Remember the guy with the stun gun in his pocket. He "stunned" his testicles to death.
Forgot about that one! Natural selection at work.
I think he should have won a Darwin Award.
Impressive!
I'm surprised that the NT White-wingers have NOT posted any comments here expressing their outrage about the "Secret commandos, authorized to shoot to kill, being at the Capitol."
I guess they "cucked out" too.
Probably because I seeded the same story already?.................Yesterday.
or maybe some are taking advantage of that nifty new feature where they can ignore a group
That's a great way to encourage an exchange of ideas.
Now everyone can hide in their echo chambers where they will feel safe.
Sorry, I missed your presentation (probably because I was writing this (and another piece).
I notice the NT White wingers commented on your seed butt they have avoided this one.
I wonder why?
Redundancy. That was easy if one thinks about it.
Yeah...yeah...but it keeps me out of trouble. I don't have anything to contribute to those groups
[deleted]
I used to work at the Department of Redundancy Department.
I do, butt they usually delete my gems.
You mean like this group?
Yes, Greg.
I like this mean group too.
Same here Giggles. I won't waste my time on garbage or where there is nothing to learn but more hate and deliberate lies. And no, it is not because I prefer an echo chamber, it is because I prefer not to engage in nothing but insults, trolling, taunts and such that only dehumanizes those who do enjoy that kind of 'discussion'.
you're missing out on all the fun in heated discussions then. say anything you want to the unenlightened because their flags are useless there. al could light that place up like vegas.
Maybe I should visit "Heated Dicksuctions".
no censorshit there, so of course most of the opposition is very afraid to venture inside.
says the guy that has at least 3 whining articles about moderation published there...
last word, last word, last word, locked.
I use that feature, not because of wanting an echo chamber, but because certain members of certain groups do not want a discussion - they want their views only - that is why they have begun using the "IMPASSE" so that no one can refute their bullshit with facts.
Also so many of them are auto-join if you comment AND I do not want to be a member of certain groups.
golly, did all the articles written by some knuckle dragging thumper whining about group moderation mysteriously get deleted?
They are hold up in their mom's basements with their Trumpy Bears and a supply of Big Macs and Diet Cokes, crying into their My Pillows.
How many times do we need to see the same story?
How many times do you need to comment on the same story?
It's a shame that your first comment was censored ( 3.1.6 Vic Eldred ). I assume it was brimming with valuable insight.
I always appreciate your precious meta.
Depends upon the person. Some people are a bit "slow" (if ya catch my drift...)
Vic has posted 4 worthless comments on this seed (so far).
Butt he(she?) thinks the seed is worthless.
It seems a little pot/kettle to me. I love it 'cause I have plenty of pot.
Be thankful, he's not known for waggish wit.
that's the type of comment that gets deleted in your groups, isn't it?