Pentagon hires man who pleaded guilty in Jan. 6 riot for sensitive civilian job in special operations policy office

A man who pleaded guilty to participating in the Jan. 6 riot as a 19-year-old — and later described the events of that day as a “disgrace” — works in a sensitive job in the Defense Department, a defense official confirmed to CBS News. 

Elias Irizarry serves as a special assistant to Assistant Secretary of Defense Derrick Anderson, who leads the military’s Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict policy office, a division that oversees special operations and irregular warfare capabilities, the official said. As part of that role, Irizarry has a top-secret security clearance. 

He has worked as an employee at the Defense Department since early last year.

Acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez confirmed that Irizarry works for the department, writing on X: “Mr. Elias Irizarry is a qualified, patriotic young professional, and we are proud to have him as a political appointee at the Department of War.”

CBS News has reached out to Irizarry’s attorney for comment.

The Washington Post was first to report on Irizarry’s job at the Pentagon.

In early January 2021, federal prosecutors said Irizarry — then a student at the Citadel Military College of South Carolina — traveled to Washington with a friend and an internet acquaintance, attended President Trump’s “stop the steal” rally on Jan. 6 and marched to the Capitol.

He then climbed into the Capitol through a shattered window and spent 27 minutes inside the building, walking into a conference room and the Capitol rotunda while carrying a metal pole, prosecutors said. His lawyer said he entered the building to look for his acquaintance.

Irizarry pleaded guilty to one count of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds. He was sentenced to 14 days of incarceration. Mr. Trump pardoned him and almost everybody else linked to the Capitol riot on the first day of his second term last year.

During his 2023 sentencing hearing, Irizarry expressed strong remorse, apologizing to police officers who responded to the riot and telling a judge his actions “brought great shame upon myself, my family and even my country,” according to a hearing transcript. Irizarry said he recognized the events of Jan. 6 were wrong as soon as he left and watched videos of the violence.

“I am ashamed because I will always be a part of this disgrace,” he said, vowing to “work as hard as possible every day for the rest of my life to redeem myself.”

His federal public defender also wrote that Irizarry was “just different” from many of the other Capitol riot defendants he represented, describing him as a “bright young man” who was not an election denier or a conspiracy theorist, and whose “regret and remorse stands out.”

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan described Irizarry’s sentencing as “one of the most difficult I have had of the January 6th cases,” citing his age and his “quite commendable” background. She also offered to write him a recommendation letter if he chose to reapply to the Citadel, which discharged him.

“Everybody makes mistakes; some are more serious than others, and yours was a big one,” Chutkan said during a sentencing hearing. “Life is like that, it takes us on strange journeys. You are at such an early stage in yours, you don’t know what road lies ahead for you. I suspect you are going to make something very remarkable of your life; I hope you do.”