Pentagon Hires Convicted January 6 Rioter to Counterterrorism Role

The Pentagon has hired a convicted January 6 rioter to work in a Defense Department office that manages highly classified military operations, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

Elias Irizarry — a 24-year-old Trump loyalist who took part in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021 — has been hired at the Defense Department’s Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict office in the ‘irregular warfare and counterterrorism’ section. This office covers particularly classified issues including embassy security, hostage rescue, and personnel recovery.

Irizarry has no career experience in counterterrorism. His LinkedIn profile states that he began working at the Department of Defense — now called the Department of War – in March of 2025. It also states that he graduated from military college in 2024.

At the time of the Capitol riot, Irizarry was a 19-year-old freshman at The Citadel, a military college in South Carolina, and a cadet in the Civil Air Patrol.

In 2022, he pled guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge of entering and remaining in the Capitol, and was sentenced to two weeks in jail. Photos and videos show Irizarry entering the Capitol building through a broken window, holding a metal pole.

Irizarry, who was one of the youngest participants in the mob attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, apologized for his part in the insurrection during his trial. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan expressed leniency for him due to his age and his apology, and wrote a letter to his military college encouraging them to readmit him after they had discharged him for taking part in the riot.

While he was depicted as apologetic, a prosecution sentencing memo noted that before entering the Capitol, Irizarry “directed and encouraged rioters toward the Capitol building” and that he was well aware that he was taking part in a riot.

Shortly after his graduation from military college in 2024, Irizarry unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the South Carolina state House of Representatives. His website stated that he was engaged in “nonviolent activities” at the Capitol on January 6, and that this was proof that he has “always stood for the conservative movement.”

“At every pivotal moment of the America First movement,” the website said, “Elias has been there.”

After The New York Times brought attention to the statements, they were removed from his website.

Irizarry was pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2025 along with nearly 1,600 convicted January 6 defendants. Trump commuted the sentences of the remaining 14 individuals — mostly members of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, which have been designated as far right extremist groups by civil rights organizations.