“- - - getting a whiff of insurrection act.”
I think that train left the station when the Pentagon decided it would not support it.
On the other hand, 15,000 troops moving into DC is way, way too many for riot control. 2 or 3 thousand, maybe 5 thousand to augment the police force, maybe but that would be high. But 15,000? Now that would be enough to implement the insurrection act.
For the 500th time the joint chiefs have no authority over the military. What part of this is unclear?