Share and Follow
Topline
Federal law enforcement agencies including the FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “failed to adequately prepare” for the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol building, Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security Committee alleged in a new report issued Tuesday, which details how law enforcement allegedly received significant information on threats ahead of the Capitol riot but failed to act.
Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021 in Washington, D.C.
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Key Facts
The FBI and the DHS’ Office of Intelligence and Analysis received “multiple tips from numerous sources” ahead of the January 6 attack, the report alleges, including that the Proud Boys’ “plan is to literally kill people” in Washington, D.C., that day, calls for violence and to occupy federal buildings, and people sharing a map of the Capitol building online.
Despite that, DHS said the morning of January 6 there was “no indication of civil disobedience,” and neither the agency nor the FBI issued any warnings that anticipated violence, the Senate report notes, quoting a FBI memo that detailed online comments but concluded the agency “identified no credible or verified threat to the activities associated with 6 January 2021.”
The FBI “failed to consider the possibility” that the violent threats “would actually be carried out” and “failed to fully consider the totality of threats and violent rhetoric,” the report argues, saying the committee’s investigation found the FBI was more focused on potential clashes between protesters and “antifa” counter-protesters.
The FBI and DHS also didn’t follow their own internal guidelines on collecting and reporting the information posted online suggesting violent threats, the Senate report concluded.
Federal agencies including the Justice Department and Department of Defense failed to coordinate on which agency was taking the lead role in the lead-up to the attack, and DHS didn’t designate January 6 as a “National Special Security Event” that would have bolstered security and the government response, the Senate report found.
The FBI and DHS have not yet responded to requests for comment.
Read Related Also: Los Angeles Lakers Shouldn’t Bank Their Title Hopes Solely On Chris Paul
Crucial Quote
Former President Donald Trump and his allies were the “primary cause of the insurrection,” the Senate report states. “But the fact remains that the federal agencies tasked with preventing domestic terrorism and disseminating intelligence—namely FBI and I&A—did not sound the alarm, and much of the violence that followed on January 6th may have been prevented had they done so.”
Chief Critic
FBI Director Christopher Wray told the House Oversight Committee in 2021 that the agency had “collected and shared intelligence; coordinated and communicated among federal, state, and local law enforcement partners; and positioned federal resources for potential deployment” in the lead-up to January 6. “The FBI and our federal, state, and local partners collected and shared intelligence and relevant public safety-related information in preparation for the various planned events.”
What To Watch For
The Senate committee report recommends that the FBI and DHS conduct internal reviews of their actions in the lead-up to January 6, as well as improving their policies for sharing intelligence and how the agencies coordinate with each other for major events. The inspector general at the DOJ is also conducting a review of the FBI and DOJ’s failures ahead of January 6, which NBC News reports is ongoing.
Key Background
The Senate investigation isn’t the first to detail law enforcement’s failure to anticipate and respond to the January 6 attack. The Senate Homeland Security and Rules Committees previously released a joint report in June 2021 that chronicled “a number of intelligence and security failures leading up to and on January 6 that allowed for the breach of the Capitol,” and Homeland Security chair Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) told the New York Times the new report issued Tuesday was meant “to fill in some gaps” following on from that initial investigation. The House January 6 Committee also detailed a “colossal intelligence failure” by law enforcement ahead of January 6 in its investigation into the attack. The House investigation was primarily focused on Trump’s role in allegedly instigating the January 6 riot and downplayed law enforcement’s failure to anticipate the attack, however, which was reportedly a source of internal conflict for the committee.
Further Reading
Planned In Plain Sight: A Review of the Intelligence Failures in vance of January 6, 2021 (Senate Homeland Security Committee)
Senate Report Details Security Failures in Jan. 6 Capitol Riot (New York Times)
Jan. 6 Panel’s Final Report: Trump Should Be Barred From Public Office Over ‘Conspiracy’ To Overturn 2020 Election (Forbes)
