(Adnkronos) – The Pentagon has hired Elias Irizarry, a former participant in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots and subsequently convicted, for a position in the office dealing with classified military operations and counterterrorism. Informed sources told the Washington Post that the decision has raised concerns among some Department of Defense officials, who consider it inappropriate to entrust a sensitive role to a person with a record related to the assault on US institutions.
Irizarry, who was 19 at the time and pleaded guilty to unauthorized entry into a restricted area, works in the irregular warfare and counterterrorism section, a unit that also deals with embassy security, personnel recovery, and hostage rescue operations. According to Pentagon sources, all positions require top-secret security clearances, while spokesman Joel Valdez called the young man “a qualified and patriotic professional.”
At the time of the Capitol assault, Irizarry was a freshman at The Citadel, a public military academy in South Carolina, and served as a cadet in the Civil Air Patrol. After traveling to Washington with two other men, he joined the crowd of Donald Trump supporters who had breached police lines and stormed the building while Congress was certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. According to prosecutors, he entered through a broken window wielding a metal pole, but did not strike anyone.
Irizarry later publicly regretted his involvement, for which he was sentenced to 14 days in prison. In 2023, he was readmitted to The Citadel, where he graduated in 2024. During his sentencing hearing, he stated: “I am ashamed, because I will always be a part of this disgrace. January 6 represented something truly horrible: it was the most serious attack on our democracy since the Civil War.”
