The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security downplayed or ignored a "vast amount of intelligence" ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, the chairman of a Senate committee said Tuesday, releasing a new report on intelligence lapses ahead of the attack. unrest, the Voice of America reports.
The report details how government agencies failed to recognize or warn of the possibility of violence, while some supporters of then-President Donald Trump openly planned the siege in text messages and online forums.
Among the wealth of intelligence that was ignored was information provided to the FBI in December 2020 that members of the far-right group Proud Boys planned to be in Washington during the formal confirmation of Joseph Biden's victory and were "planning to literally kill people," he said. in the report.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said the agencies were also aware of many messages on social media predicting violence. In some, Trump's supporters were invited to "come armed" and break into the US Congress complex, kill its members or "burn the building".
The committee's chairman, Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, said the problem was largely that threats to break into the Capitol were not seen as credible.
The committee's majority report said the intelligence community had failed to fully shift attention to threats from domestic rather than international terrorism. Intelligence leaders did not sound the alarm "in part because they could not imagine that rioters could storm the Capitol building."
Peters pointed out that there is no easily explained reason why what he called "a huge amount of intelligence" was discarded.
Intelligence failures in the run-up to Jan. 6 have already been investigated in several other reports, including a bipartisan 2021 Senate report, a House special committee report on the attack, and several separate internal assessments of the Capitol Police and other government agencies.
The latest report is the first in Congress to focus exclusively on the actions of the FBI and the Office of Intelligence and Analysis under the Department of Homeland Security.
After the attack, the board questioned officials in both agencies who "were constantly blaming each other," Peters said, adding that "everyone should be held accountable because everyone is guilty of wrongdoing."
The report details the intelligence agencies received ahead of the attack. It is emphasized that there was no failure in obtaining evidence "but in a complete and accurate assessment of the seriousness of the threat presented in the intelligence data, and in the formal issuance of guidelines to partners in law enforcement authorities".
Trump falsely claimed to have won the 2020 election and tried to overturn the election defeat, and on January 6, 2021, in a speech in front of the White House, he told his supporters to "fight like hell." Thousands then stormed Congress, attacked police officers and caused more than $700 billion in damage.
They broke windows and doors, while members of Congress hid. The rioters temporarily stopped the confirmation of Biden's victory. Even during the attack, the FBI and the Secretariat downplayed the threat. As Capitol Police tried to clear the rioters, the Department of Homeland Security was still "scrambling to assess the credibility of threats to the Capitol and to share its intelligence," according to the new report.
As Trump supporters gathered outside the White House and the Capitol, wearing "helmets and military backpacks, and radio equipment," the FBI maintained that there were no credible threats. Due to the lack of warning, the police could not adequately prepare, and there was no fortified fence around the Capitol, as is the case during the State of the Nation Address.
The report said agencies received and discarded dozens of information about the violence, due to a lack of coordination, bureaucratic delays or reluctance on the part of those gathering intelligence.
Ahead of the attack, a former Justice Department official sent the FBI online messages from members of the extremist Oath Keepers group that "bullets are the only way."
The Parlor social network, a favorite among Trump supporters, also sent the FBI several posts it found disturbing, saying it feared what might happen on January 6.
Despite all that, the agency has repeatedly emphasized that there are no credible threats, the report states.
"Our country is still dealing with the aftermath of January 6, but it is clear that the government's intelligence collection, analysis and sharing process needs to be reexamined," the new report said.
A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security said many changes had been made in the past two and a half years and that "intelligence analysis, information sharing and preparedness have been strengthened to prevent violence and keep communities safe."
The FBI said in a separate response that more attention is being paid to the "rapid sharing of information" than the attack.
"The FBI is determined to aggressively counter the threat posed by all domestic violent extremists, regardless of their motivations," the statement said.
"It is important that we recognize the failures to ensure they do not happen again," said Senator Peters.
Bonus video:
