In early 2021, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called William Walker, SIS/MA ’06, then commanding general of the District of Columbia National Guard, and offered him an appointment as sergeant-at-arms of the United States House of Representatives.
His response was solemn and direct: “Yes, ma’am,” followed by, “I will not fail you.”
Less than four months after the January 6 insurrection, Walker became just the 38th person—and the first Black man—to serve as the chamber’s chief law enforcement and protocol officer. He draws on a 40-year career during which he both reached Senior Executive Service level at the Drug Enforcement Administration and became a two-star army general.
More than a year in, Walker remains humbled by his responsibility. His is the type of position that does not offer do-overs.
“They didn’t bring me here to try,” he says. “They brought me here to effect transformational change. They brought me here to fix things. With the help of other people, I’m doing that.”
1957: Born in Chicago.
1963: Watched The Untouchables, which—along with Combat!—sparked his desire to be a federal agent and army officer. “I was very fortunate to not have to wonder about what I wanted to do. I knew it at a very young age.”
1964: Made his First Communion at Saint Sabina Catholic Church. “Faith is everything for me. I’ve seen tragic endings and said, ‘But for the grace of God go I’ on more than one occasion in my career.”
1970: Began training in the Shotokan style of karate, later earning his black belt.
1972: Joined the track team at Leo Catholic High School, running relays and competing in the shot put. “I was solidly mediocre. It was a Catholic school, so I was probably on the team because there was some mercy involved.”
1973: Caught a bus to the federal building in Chicago and asked for an application to become a special agent with the newly created DEA. “They laughed but gave me an application and said, ‘Come back when you have a college degree and some experience.’ I was focused on DEA from that point on.”
1975: Graduated from Leo Catholic High School.
1979: Took the Treasury Enforcement Agent Exam while studying at the University of Illinois Chicago. “I had no intention of doing anything but DEA, but I wanted to see what it would be like to be interviewed so that I would be prepared when DEA got around to calling me.”
1980: Graduated from UIC with a bachelor’s in liberal arts and sciences.
1981: Enlisted as a private in the Illinois National Guard.
1983: Assigned to the DEA’s Chicago Field Division as a special agent. “A week after agent school, I was putting handcuffs on people. Conducting complex, major investigations independent of supervision took about three or four years.”
1985: Commissioned, through ROTC, as a 2nd lieutenant, serving as a platoon leader with the 50th Military Police Company in Somerset, New Jersey.
1989: Joined a linguist unit in a military intelligence battalion within the Florida National Guard, drawing on the Spanish skills he began developing at Leo High School. Advanced language training served Walker well during a DEA stint in Puerto Rico. “I was good enough to interview and debrief, get people to sell me cocaine and heroin, and come back and lock them up.”
1999: Read John Maxwell’s Think on These Things: Meditations for Leaders and, years later, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. “[Throughout my career] I escaped through reading many of Maxwell’s books. It allowed me to compartmentalize.”
2002: Received what he thought was a prank phone call from fellow DEA special agents while serving on active duty as an operations officer at the Pentagon following 9/11. (It was actually DEA administrator Asa Hutchinson, who told Walker he had been promoted to the Senior Executive Service.)
2006: Graduated with a master’s in international service from AU, a year after learning of the program from his instructors at the Inter-American Defense College.
2011: Called up to active duty for an eight-month tour in Afghanistan, where he served as a senior liaison officer to NATO’s International Security Assistance Force and senior military strategist for the US Embassy in Kabul. “Between the DEA and the army, I’ve probably been to 50 countries.”
2013: Joined the board of directors for Young Marines, a national youth education and service nonprofit. “Their model of teamwork, leadership, discipline, and a drug-free lifestyle appealed to me.”
2014: Retired from the DEA after 31 years. His final post: deputy assistant administrator with the Office of Strategic Warning.
2015: Promoted to brigadier general in the US Army and DC Army National Guard.
2017: Named acting commanding general of the DC National Guard. When the position was made permanent the following year, “I was stunned and excited, but I was prepared. I did everything that I thought I needed to do to execute at that level, but there are so many people that don’t get the opportunity that are just as qualified.”
2019: Began a doctoral program in values-driven leadership from Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois—work that’s now on hold, but that Walker plans to finish after completing his term in the House.
2021: Waited for several hours on January 6 to receive approval to deploy troops to the Capitol. He still feels “tremendous frustration and tremendous disappointment” that he was not immediately able to provide support when then Capitol Police Chief Steve Sund asked for it.
Sworn in as the 38th sergeant-at-arms on April 26.
2022: Continues bringing on subject matter experts to enhance the security of Congress and the Capitol complex. “Security is a journey, it’s not a destination. We’re safer than we were January 6. Are we safe? No, but we’re safer.”