Top brass at Marine Corps Base Quantico didn’t alert rank-and-file personnel of an attempted breach by two Jordanian nationals in a box truck until two weeks after it happened, The Post can reveal.
The incident occurred May 3, when the two men approached Fuller Road Gate of the Marine base, were stopped for screening, and attempted to ram their way in but were stopped by military sentries.
The incident was first reported by Potomac Local News and then highlighted by The Post, as well as confirmed by Capt. Michael Curtis, a spokesman for the base.
However, a notification to Marines didn’t go out until May 16, according to Matt Strickland, 40, who had first flagged the incident to the local news site.
“After I [raised the alarm], I had people who work at Quantico messaging me saying, ‘Holy f—k, when did this happen?,'” Strickland told The Post.
“Two weeks after it happened Quantico finally put an email out to employees on base letting them know.
“It was basically ‘F—k, guys, I guess we aren’t going to be able to keep this secret, we should try to do some CYA’ [cover your ass],” said Strickland, a former infantry combat medic, Blackwater private military contractor and combat incident analyst at the National Ground Intelligence Center.
Strickland served in Iraq and Afghanistan for a combined nine years “down range” between 2004 and 2016. He said federal authorities have no right to bury details of the foiled incursion.
“Every American has a right to know what happened at Quantico.
“Citizens have a right to know what is going on in their backyard,” he said.
Some reports speculated the two men arrested had recently crossed the southern border into the US, and one was on the US government’s terrorist watch list.
Strickland was told one of the people involved had a Virginia ID, while the other was a terrorist.
Both men are in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. Authorities would not comment further, only saying the two will remain in ICE custody until deported.
“Who would they be keeping that information from? The reasoning would be so the terrorists, or whoever the Jordanians are working for, don’t know all the information. But whoever those two Jordanian men are working for already know what they planned to do and that they were apprehended,” Strickland said.
“The only people who don’t know what happened are the American people.”
In response to The Post’s inquiries, a Quantico spokesperson said in a statement: “The unauthorized access attempt was reported immediately to required military officials … In any case determined to be an immediate threat to the base or its population, mass notification and other means are always used to notify all who work and live on Marine Corps Base Quantico.”
Strickland, a native of Fredericksburg, Virginia, said that in his experience of convoys under attack and later in combat intelligence analysis, the secrecy surrounding what happened at Quantico is meant to spare the administration embarrassment, not keep the country safe.
“I’ve been an operational guy and I’ve been behind the scenes as an intel analyst. The government absolutely over-classifies s—t. A lot of what they keep from us is not for national security reasons like they say.
“The secrecy is purposeful because it was illegal immigrants, one of who was on the terror watch list, who breached the gates.
“And they’re allowing these illegal immigrants to come across the border.
“There are people coming across the border who hate us and want us dead.”
Strickland echoed speculation that the foiled incursion was a dry run for a future terror attack, and said his experience in the forces has taught him that terror threats are very real.
“I spent years in both Iraq and Afghanistan, so I know first-hand, it’s not just people that want to make a better life for themselves crossing the border.
“In all my time downrange, every attack that happened, especially with VBEDs [vehicle-borne explosive devices], there was always a dry run, always.”
He also lamented how the southern border has been besieged, with over 7.5 million migrants apprehended and 1.7 million migrant “getaways” illegally sneaking over unapprehended during the Biden administration.
“I don’t know any American who would be against someone coming into our country with good intentions, who wanted to assimilate to our values and just raise their family in a better environment,” he said.
“For every 10 good people that came over here for a better life, there’s one in that crowd that wants to kill us. And we’re just allowing them in our country.
“And they’ll be dormant and disciplined for however long they have to be until the time comes.
“It’s just not possible to properly vet the amount of people coming across the border.
“[The authorities] don’t want all the information out there because the incompetent government we have are the ones that allowed these people to be in America in the first place. We’re in an election year, so they don’t want negative stories like that out there,” Strickland added.
Strickland said he’s “never been a real political person” and “never trusted politicians” but cast a vote for the first time in 2020, impressed by President Donald Trump’s decision not to bomb Iran in 2019.
The veteran-turned-restaurateur first went viral for ignoring COVID-19 restrictions, eventually winning a court battle to restore his health department and alcohol licenses.
The infamy earned him a reputation as a people’s champion, which is why a contact at Quantico originally messaged him about the Jordanian raid.
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