Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

NATIONAL GUARD ON-THE-RECORD TELEPHONIC MEDIA ROUNDTABLE

JANUARY 8, 2021

TOPIC SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS

National Guard Support to DC Law 

Enforcement and the Inauguration

 USAF Major General Steve Nordhaus, the National 

Guard's Bureau's Director of Operations

 Army Major General, Tim Gowen; the Adjutant 

General for the state of Maryland

 Army Brigadier General, David Wood, the Director 

of the Joint Staff from Pennsylvania

 Army Colonel, Lisa Howe, the Interim Adjutant 

General for the State of New Jersey

Introduction:

Welcome to, all of you who are here for attendance for our media round table. We'll be starting in a very 

few minutes. If you would please ensure that you keep your mics muted until, and unless we are able to 

call on you. And I will be starting very shortly, and then reading the Rules of Engagement. So, thank you 

and we really do appreciate you being here. We'll be starting very shortly, just want to welcome each of 

you here. And we will start in about approximately two minutes. 

We're going to begin. Good afternoon, thank you for joining us today; my name is Nahaku McFadden,

and I am from the National Guard Bureau Public Affairs Office, and I am going to be moderating this 

media round table on the National Guard Support to DC Law Enforcement and the Inauguration. This is 

scheduled for approximately 45 minutes and is on the record. Before I begin, I ask that you continue to 

remain muted until I call on you for your questions. 

And when asking a question, please identify yourself, and your outlet. Because we have so many of your 

interests today, please go ahead and ask your most important question first, and then if we are able to go 

through the list; then you can ask a follow one. So, the rules will be; ask one question and then we are 

going to be going to the next outlet. So, we are going to begin, today Air Force Major General Steve 

Nordhaus, who is the Director of Operations for the National Guard Bureau, he's going to begin to 

provide us his statement, and then we are going to continue and go down to other subject matter experts 

and that we have today. 

All of their bios were provided in the media release, and at the end of this media round table, if we have 

any open questions or anything, we will follow up with you, and provide the information as requested.
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

Opening Statement:

Major General Steve Nordhaus of the National Guard's Bureau's Director of Operations:

I am Major General Steve Nordhaus of the National Guard's Bureau's Director of Operations. Thank all of 

you for joining us here, today. First, I want to say how sorry I am about Wednesday's horrific events. It 

was a dark stain on our democracy and does not honor the nation I serve. We look forward to working 

with our local communities, federal partners, and all to help heal our nation. 

As I speak, nearly 6,200 National Guard men and women from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New 

York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia will join the District of Columbia to provide Law Enforcement support 

to Federal and DC authorities through the Presidential Inauguration on 20, January. 

These members were authorized by acting Secretary of Defense, Christopher Miller; to report to the DC 

Guard for up to 31 days under Title 32-502(F) authority. What I had like to do before we go any further, 

is to explain how the National Guard is called up in an emergency such as this; when requested for 

National Guard assistance, it generally comes in from a local authority, that is requesting, generally a 

governor to provide additional assistance and the National Guard to support them. 

The governor then approves, and that support is provided through the Adjutant 7.44 General from that 

state to the local community as required. The District of Columbia is different, it does not have a 

governor, so that would be under Mayor Bowser or a federal agency asks for a request, and then that 

request generally goes to the commanding General of the District of Columbia and it is supported through 

the Secretary of the Army, and the Secretary of Defense to authorize that support. 

With us today, we have Army Major General, Tim Gowen; the Adjutant General for the state of 

Maryland. Also with us is Army Brigadier General, David Wood. He's the Director of the Joint Staff from 

Pennsylvania, and Army Colonel, Lisa Howe, the Interim Adjutant General for the State of New Jersey. 

At this time, I had like to open it up to the first question.

Dialogue:

[Name] [QUESTION/RESPONSE]

Nahaku McFadden: Sir, we are going to first have Major General Timothy Gowen to 

provide any of his statements first.

Major General Nordhaus: Okay. Thank you.

Nahaku McFadden: Thank you, sir.
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

Major General Gowen: Good afternoon everybody. Again, I am Tim Gowen, I am the 

Adjutant General of the state of Maryland. The Maryland National 

Guard is a dual mission, here at home protecting the homeland, and 

abroad fighting America's wars. And we are also, as always, a 

community-based force, sometimes that community is local – as 

with our Covid-19 mobile vaccination support teams, which we 

have been working diligently here in Maryland, over the past several 

days. 

And sometimes that community stretches across state borders and 

we are called upon to help provide our neighbor of communities the 

same support that we have to provide everyone's state in times of 

need. At Governor Larry Hogan's direction, I have deployed 500 of 

Maryland Army National Guard's soldiers assigned to the 58th 

Troop Command to respond to the crisis in Washington D.C., the 

58th Troop Command has a role of serving as the Maryland National 

Guard reaction force.

As such, well trained and ready to support missions of this nature. 

These dedicated military professionals have joined D.C.'s National 

Guards forces to restore and maintain peace and order within the 

Capitol area. At the direction of the Governor, our soldiers will 

support law enforcement as needed, and as long as needed. 

They're serving in a total of 32 federal active-duty status. Under the 

command and control of D.C. National Guard, and are performing 

this sacred mission entrusted to us, protecting the community and 

insisting civil authorities. This is what we do, this is why we serve. 

Thank you.

Nahaku McFadden: Thank you, sir. General Wood, do you have some statements?

Brigadier General Wood: Good afternoon, I am Brigadier General Dave Wood, and I am the 

director of the Joint Staff for the Pennsylvania National Guard. On 

behalf of the citizen-soldiers of Pennsylvania, thank you for this 

opportunity to participate. We are one of the largest and most 

deployed guards of the states. And it is not surprising that 
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

Pennsylvania was tapped to take part in this mission. 

Most of our soldiers and airmen that we are sending to the District 

of Columbia were already scheduled to go there, to provide support 

for the upcoming Presidential Inauguration. We've done this, every 

four years since 2005, so this is something that, in Pennsylvania, we 

are used to doing, we understand how the District of Columbia, D.C. 

National Guard works, and we understand how the D.C. 

Metropolitan Police work. 

Our plans were already in place to move troops, vehicles, and 

equipment to the National Capital Region. And moving this timeline 

up for the seven of eight days really was not that difficult for us to 

do. Our members are well-trained to assist our communities, our 

commonwealth, and our nation and are familiar with this type of 

mission. 

We've been called upon to conduct similar missions to assist law 

enforcement in Philadelphia, just this past summer. We were in D.C. 

National Convention in Philadelphia in 2016 and of course we were 

at the Papal Visit, in 2015. So, we feel very comfortable in this 

mission, we know that we are here to protect our citizens, and we 

thank you for the opportunity to take part in this call.

Nahaku McFadden: Thank you, sir. And Colonel Howe?

Colonel Howe: Good afternoon everyone, I am Colonel Lisa Howe, the interim 

Adjutant General for New Jersey. As Major General Nordhaus said, 

mentioned earlier that New Jersey is participating in this mission in 

Washington D.C. In the last 48 hours, in collaboration with National 

Guard Bureau, New Jersey's governor Phil Murphey ordered the 

deployment of 500 New Jersey National Guard Soldiers and Airmen 

to support local law enforcement and D.C. National Guard with 

ensuring the security of our nation's capital. 

Our soldiers and Airmen will be on the ground in the next few days, 

we have 500 who will be down there to support D.C. National Guard 

and local authorities. These are some of the same New Jersey 
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

National Guard members who deployed to D.C. over the summer, 

last year, to support them, providing security and protecting our 

precious national monuments. 

They're also some of the same National Guard members who spent 

much of last year supporting New Jersey's Covid-19 pandemic 

response, and over 1,000 soldiers and Airmen supported in various 

Covid-19 missions throughout the state. I am so proud of our 

Airmen and soldiers who have volunteered to step up to support our 

fellow citizens in Washington D.C., as we are neighbors helping 

neighbors. Thank you.

Nahaku McFadden: Thank you so much, each one of you. Let's go ahead, and we are 

going to begin taking questions. And we are going to start with 

Associated Press, Lolita Baldora. Lolita?

Lolita Baldora: Hi, yes. Thanks so much. This question is for the Generals and the 

Colonel from the states. How concerned are you about the safety of 

your Guard members as they come into D.C., considering the riot 

earlier this week, and what – if any – nonlethal or other weapons or 

protective gear, are you hoping or asking that they be allowed to use 

or have? Thank you so much.

Nahaku McFadden: General Gowen, would you like to begin, please?

Major General Gowen: Yeah, sure. So, my guys are pretty well experienced, unfortunately, 

in this mission set. We started Governor Hogan's tenure with the 

civil unrest in Baltimore, and we have been pretty well on top of that 

mission set, ever since. So, and in fact, this is the second time in the 

past six months that Maryland National Guard soldiers had deployed 

to D.C. 

So, I think your question is; am I concerned about their safety? I am 

not, I am always concerned about the safety of my soldiers. And 

however, I think we have done everything we can to mitigate that 

risk. We are well-trained in the mission, we have the equipment 

needed to protect them, they have very strong leadership there, on 

D.C. National Guard and they have a great plan, and my soldiers on 
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

the ground are some of the best in the nation, especially at this 

mission set. So, I will be happier when they are home but I think we 

have done everything we can to make sure that they are in the best 

posture possible. Over.

Nahaku McFadden: General Wood, would you like to add a little bit to that?

Brigadier General Wood: Yeah, I knew what General Gowen said, says correct. Look, when 

we deploy, we deploy with our equipment that we need to do the 

job. Do you know? There's no hiding the fact that soldiers and 

airmen, do have lethal force with them. How the Rules of the Use 

of Force are engaged is just dependent on the scenario and the 

situation. We are going to deescalate as much as we can. D.C., this 

past summer did a great job of being able to deescalate without 

having to have soldiers armed. 

In Philadelphia, our soldiers were armed. Again, we were able to 

deescalate issues, and we did not have any issues. So, we are not 

going to put away the equipment that we have, we are going to bring 

it with us, and the way we deploy it, will be based on the situation 

and based on the Commander's intent. So, but again, as General 

Gowen said, our soldiers are very well-trained, they understand 

what their job is to do. Their job is not to be out front; their job is to 

support law enforcement.

Do you know? The police or law enforcement agencies, they will 

take care of arrest, detentions, things like that. Our soldiers are just 

there to provide that additional backup.

Nahaku McFadden: Thank you, sir. We're going to continue on, CBS News, David 

Martin; are you there?

David Martin: Yeah, I was wondering if you could go back to the original request 

from D.C. Mayor Bowser to D.C. National Guard; what support did 

she ask for on December 31st; and how did that change between 

December 31st and this Wednesday?

Nahaku McFadden: General Nordhaus, would you like to provide some overarching 
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

messaging?

Major General Nordhaus: My understanding was that on the Commanding General for D.C. 

National Guard received that order about 31 December, I believe the 

number was for 340 National Guard members. And I believe that 

was approved early the week prior to Wednesday, so around 

Monday for that support. I do not have any other information than 

that, sir.

David Martin: So, you do not know what was initially requested, do you? The 

question really is, did she request Guard troops at the Capitol in her 

original request?

Tracy O'Grady-Walsh: All right let me chime in here, this is Tracy O'Grady-Walsh. David, 

I think there was a conversation between you and the Secretary of 

Army and General Hokanson, earlier today around 11:00, they are 

going to be the best sources for that information. But if you did not 

get those answers, we will make sure we follow up with you with 

that.

Nahaku McFadden: Okay, thank you so much. So, next, we are going to the Reservist 

National Guard, Bianca. Are you there Bianca?

Bianca: Yes, ma'am. What impact, if any, did the recent events at the capital 

have on your planning and guidance, ahead of the inauguration? Did 

it change the trajectory or the guidance you are giving personnel in 

any way?

Nahaku McFadden: General Wood, would you like to start first?

Brigadier General Wood: Sure, sure. As I said earlier, in my earlier remarks; we have been 

involved with the inauguration and supporting the D.C. guard for 

many years. And we have got approximately 1,000 troops that we 

were scheduled to send down for the inauguration. 

Basically, we have been asked to send those thousand troops down 

early, and that is really what our plan is going to be. So, there really 

was not a whole lot of impact from an operational standpoint, for us. 
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

You know, obviously, these are citizen soldiers. These are soldiers 

that are reservists and have jobs, and obviously that longer 

deployment puts some challenges on those soldiers, airmen, and 

their families. 

But they are all used to that, and obviously we – as the leadership –

we will do what we can to ensure that their hardships, and things 

like that, we will take care of those service members. But really, I 

think I would probably say across the board for all the states that 

were planning to come – and that includes Maryland, Delaware, all 

of the states here in FEMA Region 3 and Region 2. I do not think 

the operational tempo really changed that much. Over.

Nahaku McFadden: Colonel Howe, do you have anything else to add?

Colonel Howe: Not a whole lot, just that New Jersey also this is a recurring mission 

for us, to support the inauguration. These current events just 

increased New Jersey's commitment to assist.

Nahaku McFadden: Thank you. Moving on, we have Reuders; Idris, are you there? 

Okay, nothing heard. Mike Glenn, from the Washington Times? 

Mike, are you there?

Mike Glenn: Yes, I am here. My question was already asked and answered, so, I 

will just go ahead and pass.

Nahaku McFadden: Copy, thank you so much. We have Fox News; we have the D.C. 

Desk; are you there, Fox News? Nothing heard. WUSA9 TV, Kolbi 

Satterfield? Kolbi, are you there?

Kolbi Satterfield: Hi, yeah. I am here. It goes back to the D.C. timeline. I am really 

just trying to figure out how the National Guard came into D.C. to 

protect the Capitol. When did the calls come? And from who and

who gave the 'Okay' for that? Is what we are really trying to head 

down if anyone can do that, and then a follow-up question to that 

will be; how many guardsmen are typically in D.C. for the 

inauguration? 
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

Is that going to be more this year? And is Inauguration going as 

planned, in terms of security and reports of that seven-foot fence 

around?

Nahaku McFadden: Thank you. General Nordhaus, would you like to begin? 

Major General Nordhaus: Sorry. I would like to begin with a timeline. So, when the events 

unfolded on Wednesday, calls began to be received from the 

National Guard Bureau and the Chief of the National Guard Bureau 

when he heard that the mayor had reached out to – I believe it was 

Maryland and Virginia – and the Secretary of the Army. Then 

decisions were made within those states, I will refer back to those 

states, I will come back to Major General Tim Gowen, for 

information on that. But then, rapidly they started making phone 

calls to honor those requests, and the Secretary of Defense, acting 

Secretary of Defense, and Secretary of the Army approved it, shortly 

thereafter as we continued to make those capabilities and movement 

into D.C., I had like to pass it over to Major General Tim Gowen, 

from Maryland.

Major General Gowen: Thanks, so first of all, I need to point out that things are not always 

as sequential as people want them to be. So, it is very – there is a lot 

going on. I think my phone, between the hours of 1430 and I do not 

know, 1:00 in the morning when I finally went to bed, I was never 

not on the phone. 

And I have several chains of command to deal with in a conversation 

like this. So, getting to the specifics of the question; 'What is the 

timeline?' The first time I had any specific calls was somewhere 

around 15:00 with the governor's office. And from that, it was just 

kind of a, 'How goes it? What are you guys hearing?' And at that 

point, I had heard from the governor's Chief of Staff, that she had 

heard from the D.C mayor's Chief of Staff that they wanted the 

National Guard. 

Well, they do not have the authority to ask for National Guard, it 

does not mean they do not deserve it, it just means they do not 

specifically have authority. It must go through the Secretary of 
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

Defense. So, we are working that channel, had another call with the 

Governor shortly after that, and that is when the Governor said, 

'We'll get ready to go. Get your guys, call them up, put them on state 

active-duty if you have to.' So, that is what we did. 

And then, shortly after that, I started to have a few phone calls with 

the Chief of National Guard Bureau, and more back and forth with 

the Governor's staff, lots and lots of calls with my own staff. And at 

1730, we finally received official notification from the Secretary of 

Defense that we can move our guys into D.C., on 502F orders. And 

that is what we needed, so we started to prepare, we moved at the 

Governor's orders, everything. 

We had soldiers moving toward the armory and got the go-ahead 

that we knew the mission was to go into D.C. as of 1730. And by 

2Major General Nordhaus: 00, that is11:00 p.m., I had all my 

soldiers in the armory, ready to go standby for D.C. to accept that. 

They weren't ready to accept them until the next morning, and 

frankly, you've got to also remember something with the National 

Guard is that these guys were all civilians, working at their civilian 

jobs all day long. It would have been a very high risk for me to send 

them through the night, after having worked all day long and ran to 

the armory to send them to a city where they weren't necessarily 

ready to accept those forces yet. 

So, the best thing for us to do is for us to wait until the next morning, 

and then the first thing in the morning, they were there. And that, in 

terms of National Guard response, is lightning fast that we are not a 

first response force. We're not the Fire or Police, we are – generally, 

we advertise about a 12-hour response time for just our first tier of 

forces. We were ready to go within eight hours, and we are pretty 

proud of that. Over.

Nahaku McFadden: Thank you, sir. I want to point out that in the chat, we did drop a 

link to the Secretary of the Army's statement, and you may see that 

there is more information there that might be of use to answer those 

particular questions. We're moving on, Politico – Lara Seligman, are 
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

you there? Okay, nothing heard. Tara Copp from McClatchy? Sorry, 

we cannot hear you, Tara.

Tara Copp: You'd think I would learn this. So, I want to get back to the timeline. 

But first, on the weaponry that service members will be authorized 

to carry, will they be authorized to carry lethal weapons? Will they 

be carrying guns? 

And what will the Use of Force be? And then a second question on 

the timeline; you know the violence at the Capitol started around 1:

or 1:30, and there were a lot of questions at the time, where is the 

guard? Just wondering what that makes you guys feel? And whether 

there should have been, maybe some troops put in pre-positions to 

respond to that.

Nahaku McFadden: Thanks for the question. Colonel Howe, would you like to start from 

your perspective? New Jersey.

Colonel Howe: As far as the firearms; I am not sure; it is not appropriate for us to 

go into details for the protection of our guard members on the Use 

of Force. And as far as the timeline, for New Jersey, we were –

because Maryland and Virginia were already the first to be asked, 

we were a couple of hours behind, but probably around 19:00; in 

conversation with the Governor's office and National Guard Bureau, 

was when we decided we would have troops ready to go.

Nahaku McFadden: Thank you. General Wood, would you like to add a little bit more to 

that?

Brigadier General Wood: Well, again. In terms of describing the rules for the Use of Force, 

we just do not advertise that. I mean it does not make sense to do 

that, because it puts our service members in some degree of 

jeopardy.

If you see soldiers that are working, that have weapons, they are 

there with weapons, because they have been authorized to do so by 

their chain of command. If they do not have weapons, they are there 

because they have been authorized to not have weapons there. And 
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

that is basically it. I mean, you know these are soldiers and airmen; 

they are trained in – you know you do not send firemen into a fire 

without all their equipment. 

So, having that equipment available is part of what we do, and how 

we use it is part of our business and that is how we do that. In regards 

to prepositioning, and being prepared. You know, I can tell you we 

have been working in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey; all of 

us here have been having operational synchronization meetings. 

Working groups with the Washington D.C National Guard in 

preparation for PI 59. The inauguration. 

We have been working through all of these steps, and each of us in 

our own home states has been working through the whole entire 

election process, from Election Day through the Electoral College

day, through the certification days. And we have been looking at 

using the law enforcement analysis that is been given to us, you 

know that is been driving whether we need to be prepositioned or 

not. I would say that in understanding what the decisions were made 

in terms of prepositioning here in the District of Columbia, which

would be a question for the National Guard. And I do know that we 

have been working very closely – and when I say National Guard, 

the District of Columbia National Guard, who has been very close 

with the D.C. Metropolitan Police. 

So, you know I think we are very comfortable that what we were 

anticipating to have in our presence, the timelines were sound, and 

sometimes these things just happen. Over.

Nahaku McFadden: Thank you so much, sir. Moving on we got ABC News, Luis 

Martinez?

Luis Martinez: Hi, can you give me a minute? I will enable my video here. Please 

stand by, thanks for your patience.

Nahaku McFadden: You're good Luis.

Luis Martinez: There we go, good afternoon. Thanks for doing this gentleman, I 
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

question the perceptions of what the National Guard is, and 

perceptions of the General, therefrom Maryland talk about it is 

record time for you to get forces out there in eight hours. 

But can you kind of expand of the idea of well, first off, we have to 

be mobilized to be prepositioned for something so that we can 

respond quickly, and that kind of scenario versus what I would call 

a call up from a cold call? 

And I think there is something to be said about the perception out 

there, which the National Guard was ready, or can be ready at a 

moment's notice. Can you explain any frustrations that you might 

have – and this is to any of you – or a few things that you would like 

to clarify that would make it easier for people to understand, thank

you.

Nahaku McFadden: General Gowen I see. Are you?

Major General Gowen: Yeah, chomping at the bit to answer the question. So, the reporter a 

few minutes ago asked, 'Where was the guard?' The guard was being 

a plumber, or a carpenter, or a doctor, or working in a grocery store. 

They were at their civilian jobs. 

That's where the Maryland National Guard was. That's where the 

vast majority of the Maryland National Guard is, even today. I have 

only got a portion of my forces called up. For eight months, we had 

a lot of those guys called up. 

And once they are called up, I mean we are fairly responsive, but 

you've got to consider the entire timeline. First of all, we have to 

notify the people, then they may or may not be able to leave their 

jobs at that moment. Then they have got to travel. 

They need to go home, they need to prepare, they need to grab their 

bags for what might be two, four, ten, 12 days. Who knows how 

long, they need to prepare for that. They have tocome all the way 

across the state from where that is, and in Maryland, we are lucky 

that it is only a couple of hour's drive from wherever they live to 
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

wherever the armory is. 

That they must come all the way across the state, then they need to

get to the armory, they need to get organized, then we need to get in 

vehicles, and in this case; drive all the way, another hour or so –

maybe more, in some cases – if it is coming from the other side of 

the state, where one of my armories was all the way to Washington 

D.C. So, we have got to accept the notion that the National Guard is 

not a first responder force.

The way that the National Guard works, in everything we do not just 

for the civil disturbance but for snowstorms and floods, and 

anything else, cyber-attacks. Everything that we deal with, is a tiered 

response. It starts off with first responders, and when the first 

responders reach their capacity, then they go up to the next higher. 

Sometimes it is a county, when the county runs out of capacity, they 

go up to the state. In our case, we actually sent 200 Maryland State 

Troopers to Washington D.C., and I know a lot of other states did 

too.

That's the proper response, to use the law enforcement activity, all 

the way to its maximum capacity, and when that is reached, that is 

when you call in the National Guard. So, for various entities, people 

out there assume that the first response is to bring in the Guard; I 

think we have got to reeducate the people how this works. Over.

Nahaku McFadden: Thank you, sir. Time Magazine, Bill Hennigan? Hello, Bill. Nothing 

heard. We're going to go to Airforce Magazine, Jennifer Lee, how 

are you?

Jennifer Lee: I am well, thanks. Thank you all so much for taking the time. My 

question is really aimed at getting a better feel for the Air National 

Guards' specific role in this response. So, for the state leaders, I am 

hoping that you can kind of elaborate on how many, approximately, 

or specific, whatever OPSEC allows forces from your international 

guard wings are being mobilized as part of this response? 

And then for the national level leadership, I am hoping that you can 
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

speak to whether there have been any requests for international 

guard air assets or any other kind of assets in addition to the 

manpower that we are seeing come in. Whether it is for mobilization

of forces around the national capital region, ISR in pieces of crowd 

control, or other things. Thank you.

Nahaku McFadden: Colonel Howe, would you like to begin?

Colonel Howe: Sure. For New Jersey, of our total of 500 service members going 

down, 100 are from the Air National Guard, from our 177th Fighter 

Wing, and our 108 Wing. They are security forces, so they will be 

there to join the rest to provide security.

Nahaku McFadden: Thank you. General Wood, would you like to add anything to that?

Brigadier General Wood: So, we certainly are a team play when we have these types of 

operations. We have approximately, out of our thousand, we have 

approximately 50 airmen that are going. Primarily they are 

communications, we do use our security forces when we need to. 

But in this case, we have a full brigade of Army soldiers that are 

making up the 1,000. So, we really did not need to tap too deep into 

the security force elements of the Air Force. But they are certainly 

there if needed. Over.

Nahaku McFadden: And General Nordhaus, there was a little overarching response, is 

there anything else that you would like to add?

Major General Nordhaus: I know Virginia is not on the line, but I know that they are using 

one of their security forces squadrons within the state of Virginia to 

assist. So, it is as the National Guard is one third Air National Guard, 

around 108,000 and then you have around 340,000 Army National 

Guard, it makes up a force of about that one-third of two-third. You 

know 30% and 70%.

Nahaku McFadden: Thank you. Next, we have National Guard Magazine, Drew 

Brooks. Are you there Drew?
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

Drew Brooks: Yes. So, I was wondering if either of the two MP units from 

Alabama and Arizona that were given the quick reaction mission, 

earlier this year, if either would be standby or in the D.C. area?

Nahaku McFadden: Sir?

Major General Nordhaus: Major General Nordhaus, here. Note, neither one of those are in the 

D.C. area at this time.

Nahaku McFadden: Okay, we have the Washington Times, Mike Glenn; are you there, 

Mike?

Mike Glenn: Okay, I am sorry. Hold on.

Abraham Mashie: Yeah, I have a question. Abraham Mashie, Washington Examiner.

Nahaku McFadden: Okay.

Abraham Mashie: Secretary McCarthy spoke here, in the press room today. And he 

said that the timeline for Secretary Miller's approval for D.C Guard 

and all states was more on a 1Major General Nordhaus: 00, 14:00 

timeline. But we just heard the Maryland Chief that he did not 

receive the authority until 15:30. Can you clarify the discrepancy? 

Thank you.

Nahaku McFadden: General Gowen?

Major General Gowen: Boy, I just want to clarify. I said 17:30, that is when we received it. 

And I cannot speak for anything that happened up until then. That's 

– you will have to refer to the Secretary's press release.

Abraham: You said possible follow-up, is it possible that the authority was 

given but did not arrive at you until 17:30? Or would that not 

happen?

Major General Gowen: I received it at 17:30. I do not know; I am in charge of the Maryland 

National Guard. I received it at 17:30.
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

Abraham: Thank you, Sir.

Nahaku McFadden: Thank you. We're going to go with Politico, Lara? You had some 

technical difficulties, are you back now?

Lara: Yes, I am back. Thanks so much for coming back to me. Can you 

just say, I do not think I have heard you say this yet; how many 

guardsmen in total will be in D.C. for the inauguration, and is this 

different than previous inaugurations? 

And secondly, can you just give us a sense of if you are more 

concerned now, after what happened on Wednesday for that the 

guardsmen will need to be used for riots and crowd control?

Nahaku McFadden: General Nordhaus, would you like to begin?

Major General Nordhaus: Yeah, I do not have the exact numbers. I believe they are fairly close 

to what we have seen planned in previous inaugurations. Certainly, 

as military and local law enforcement and anybody that is in that 

type of job, looks at new events and information, and continues to 

plan, and make decisions so we are ready for the upcoming event.

So, I know that as far as the National Guard, we continue to plan 

and now work with 54 to make sure we have available the resources 

that might be requested as we approach the 20th of January.

Nahaku McFadden: Next, we have CNN. Oren Liebermann. Oren, are you there? 

Nothing heard. CBS News, Kevin McCarron? Okay, nothing heard. 

New York Times, Eric Schmitt? All right. Washington Post, Dan 

Lemothe?

Dan Lemothe: Yes, thank you. General Gowen, this is probably a question for you, 

and then there is a probably more looking forward aspect, that I 

think several of you could maybe speak to. Governor Hogan was 

talking yesterday about your calls to – it sounded like the National 

Guard Bureau, despite the authority being with the Army Secretary 

and the Defense Secretary.
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

What actually happened there, and was there confusion over who 

should have been called, or how that worked? And then looking 

forward, there was confusion, I think pretty obviously through the 

afternoon, in terms of where the Guard could be, whether the Guard 

was available, whether the Guard could be on Capitol Hill, that sort 

of thing. 

How do we make sure this sort of thing does not happen again? 

Thanks.

Major General Gowen: Yeah, so I think I had two maybe three calls with General Hokanson 

between the time when I first spoke with the Governor, and when 

we finally got the orders permitting us to deploy to D.C. 

And the first call was because General Hokanson and I, also had 

heard on the news that Maryland was going into D.C., and he's like, 

"What have you heard?" and I am like, "Nothing, sir. What have you 

heard?" and he's like, "We'll get back to you." But so, we just 

confirmed with each other that we had heard that on the news and 

that it must have been wrong because it did not come from him and 

it did not come from me. 

So, I forget the second part of your question, now what was it again? 

I am sorry.

Dan: I think it is mostly trying to understand who was calling who, and 

then the second part was, obviously there was a great deal of 

confusion on Wednesday over who was available and how quickly. 

If, for whatever reason, this new plan with more people is still not 

sufficient, what are the conversations at that point?

Major General Gowen: Yeah, so, as I said, once things really got rolling and solidified, there 

were a lot of phone calls, and that is when General Hokanson 

reached out to – I think six or seven other states. And we really 

started to solidify the plans, and a lot of it was, 'How much can you 

provide?' and you must understand, we are doing a lot of other things 

right now. 
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

My guys just came off of a long, long period of time where they are 

on orders, I have got units that are deployed, I have got units that 

are coming home, right now. I have got units that are going out, 

getting ready to go out the door. So, it is always – I never want to 

over-promise.

And General Hokanson was trying to reach a certain number for 

deployment into D.C., so there was a lot of work, a lot of 

conversations with a lot of states, and across from staff to staff to 

make all that happen. I personally do not think it was confusing, not 

to me at least, maybe to the outside, and whoever was trying to get 

a grasp on it.

If you are trying to get a grasp on something like that, the National 

Guard's a unique organization, it is not a tiered, specific, military 

organization like that unless – when we are not called up, there is no 

straight chain of command from me up to General Hokanson. I work 

for the Governor, and all the states work for the Governor, so there 

is a lot of give and take. 

There's a lot of, you need to make sure that all of the facets of your 

personal chains of command, and chains of influence are on board 

with the decisions as they are being made. So, you are basically 

making some sausage, and to the outside, it looks kind of ugly, but 

we have been through this process so many times it is just kind of 

what to expect. Over.

Nahaku McFadden: Dan, does that answer your question?

Dan: I believe the only logical follow-up is, do you think that was clear 

to D.C. officials?

Major General Gowen: You mean, Mayor Bowser?

Dan: Mayo Bowser, capitol police, anybody who would have been 

involved. I mean there is a degree of desperation that was probably 

there at that point, and maybe they throw the playbook out the 
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

window and just hope for the best. We were hearing a lot of, "Hey, 

we were asking and not getting." And the flip side of that is the 

limitations you logically had.

Major General Gowen: Yeah, I mean it is hard for me to answer what she saw from her 

perspective. I can tell you; it is really hard to – you want to promise 

that we are coming, but nobody's really in a position to promise the 

whole big picture like that. Nobody, not even the Secretary of the 

Army, because we all belong to the governors at that moment, and 

not anyone state can make a promise. 

So, I can see how when you are waiting, when things are looking 

kind of tough in your city, and you want the National Guard 

response, you want it now, now, now. There's nobody that can give 

it to you that quickly, so it takes a while to generate the response, 

and it takes even longer to generate the forces. That's why I wish I 

could – it is really hard to work in this organization because of that. 

Do you know? 

Everyone wants to help right away, but sometimes you cannot, but 

it is also, it is even more frustrating because it is hard to educate the 

other end of the supported organizations. To help them understand 

just how challenging it is to get all these people off their jobs and 

into the armories, and dealing with all the other limitations that we 

got.

So, it is difficult and I think over the years, for all the right reasons, 

people have come to rely on us for these things. But I think 

sometimes there is a little bit of; we have got to manage expectations 

too. Over.

Nahaku McFadden: Thank you, sir. General Nordhaus, would you like to kind of, 

maybe reiterate how the National Guard is requested?

Major General Nordhaus: Well, I would just like to add in, bolster in there with Major General 

Gowen's point. Is that when the calls came in that afternoon into 

Virginia, into Maryland, and they started making calls to build those 

folks. 
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

They have got to come off their jobs, they need to go into the 

armories, they got to actually go home first, pack a lunch, head into 

the armories, prep equipment, get their equipment ready, and then 

gather vehicles, determine where they are going to go, have the 

authority to proceed in that direction, and then with the ability for 

somebody to receive them, provide the rules for the Use of Force, 

and then follow under the appropriate C2, and then direct it out to 

the locations there. 

So, I think as the early call as the information on the day of 

Wednesday began, those calls were all going out and everyone was 

moving out as fast as they could to build the National Guard 

members that could do these missions, while in the National Guard 

Bureau who is a coordination and synchronization element between 

the 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia, and to 

the Department of Defense, that we were helping to synch those 

calls to move out as fast as we could.

Nahaku McFadden: Thank you. Moving on, we have Army Times, Kyle Rempfer. Kyle, 

are you there?

Kyle Rempfer: Yeah, I am here. My question was; during the summertime 

activations, there was an Ohio guardsman who was removed from 

the D.C. mission, after the FBI had uncovered some information 

indicating the expressed extremist ideology online. 

So, my question is, have any similar alerts been received this time 

around? Regarding any guardsmen? Have any guardsmen been 

removed from this assignment, and is this something that you guys 

are watching for, ahead of this mission in particular?

Major General Nordhaus: Major General Nordhaus here, not to my knowledge. And of course, 

we are always doing everything we can to make sure we have a 

security force, and our forces are professional and ready to support 

our communities.

Nahaku McFadden: Okay, WUSA9, Eliana Block? Are you there?
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

Eliana Block: Yes, hi. I just had a couple of quick questions, regarding the D.C 

timeline. I know we just talked a little bit about Mayor Bowser, but 

I was hoping that you could tell us, you know when exactly you 

heard from Mayor Bowser's office, and when exactly D.C. National 

Guard was activated? 

Additionally, to that, I just had a follow-up. I have heard from 

Hogan and Mayor Bowser talking about how they had initially 

requested that were quote on a quote, 'denied'. Can you talk a little 

bit about that as well?

Nahaku McFadden: General Nordhaus, would you like to start?

Major General Nordhaus: Yeah, as far as the last part of your question; to my knowledge there 

was an initial request into Major General Walker, and then that went 

up through the appropriate approval process through Secretary of 

the Army, it was discussed between the 31st and a few days prior to 

the event. 

And it was approved, and to my knowledge, the things that were 

asked for were approved. And as far as the timeline, I had had to go 

back and refer to the Secretary of the Army's timeline and statement.

Nahaku McFadden: Okay, Idris, you are back on with Reuters. Go ahead, Idris.

Idris: Hey, can you hear me?

Nahaku McFadden: Yes.

Idris: Yeah, I just wanted to quickly ask two quick questions. Firstly, what 

is the intelligence that you are seeing, or that is being shared with 

you for the coming few weeks, in terms of crowds, is the expectation 

that there will be more violence? 

And there was an AP story with the Secretary of the Army saying, 

'Military considering allowing guard troops to be armed.' Is that 

something you are discussing or is that under consideration right 
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

now?

Major General Gowen: As part of your first question, Major General Nordhaus here. That 

part, as far as intelligence it really goes through the federal agencies, 

and local law enforcement to have that, so I cannot speak to that. 

And on the second part, that would be under the Commander's 

intent, based on the situation and those determinations will be made 

as the situation dictates.

Nahaku McFadden: Okay, we have Breitbart News, Kristina Wong? Kristina are you 

there? Nothing heard. Task and Purpose, Hailey?

Female Speaker: Nahaku McFadden, one more question with Briana, and then we are 

out of time, okay?

Nahaku McFadden: Okay, thank you. Briana, then.

Briana: Hey, how's it going? Thanks for putting this on. I just wanted to 

clarify one thing, who made the initial call during the chaos at the 

capitol? Was it the Mayor's office, or was it Capitol police? And was 

it to D.C National Guard?

Nahaku McFadden: General Nordhaus?

Major General Nordhaus: I do not know who made the first call. I received a call at the time 

from the Joint Staff saying that they had heard that there was a call 

from the Virginia – or from the Mayor to the Governor of Virginia, 

and I had to tell them I did not know, at the time. So, to this day, I 

do not know exactly, who made what calls when, as far as from the 

Mayor to the Governors.

Briana: Okay, and is that unusual? For the Mayor to call Virginia for help 

from the guard, versus the D.C. guard?

Major General Nordhaus: I cannot speak to that, ma'am.

Briana: Okay, thank you for your help.
Transcript

National Guard Bureau Public Affairs

Press Desk (703) 601-6767 

ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mil

www.nationalguard.mil

Nahaku McFadden: Okay, so this concludes our media round table for today. Thank you 

all for being here, we do understand that some of you still have some 

outstanding questions. Please feel free to send an email to the email 

that was in the press release, and or call us and we will do our best 

to follow up with you. 

Just want to say thank you to Major General Nordhaus, Major 

General Gowen, Colonel Howe, and Brigadier General Wood for 

being our subject matter experts here, today. And sharing all the 

great things that the National Guard is doing on behalf of keeping 

Americans safe and going forward into the inauguration. So, thank 

you and we are completed for today.

[End of Audio]

Duration: 55 minutes

For information regarding this transcript, please send an email to the National Guard Bureau 

Media Operations desk at ng.ncr.ngb-arng.mesg.ngb-media-desk-owner@mail.mi

l.

-30-