Pentagon Hires a Convicted Jan. 6 Rioter, 23, Into a Counterterrorism Policy Office

The Washington Post reported on June 2, 2026 that the Defense Department had hired Elias Irizarry, 23, as a political appointee in the office of the Assistant Secretary for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict, in its irregular warfare and counterterrorism section. Irizarry pleaded guilty to entering and remaining in a restricted building for his role in the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack and was sentenced to 14 days in prison. He was 19 at the time, a Citadel freshman, and entered the Capitol through a broken window after driving from South Carolina for the 'Stop the Steal' rally. At his 2023 sentencing he told the court that 'January 6th represented something truly horrible.'

The office helps set U.S. counterterrorism and irregular-warfare policy, work that ordinarily requires security clearances and a record free of criminal conduct against federal facilities.

A Pentagon acting press secretary defended the hire, calling Irizarry a 'qualified, patriotic young professional.'