Sen. Peters releases bipartisan report detailing failures around Jan. 6 Capitol attack

WASHINGTON (WPBN/WGTU) -- A Senate investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol found a broad intelligence breakdown across multiple agencies, along with widespread law enforcement and military failures that led to the violent attack.

Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Senator Gary Peters released a joint bipartisan report detailing how security, planning and response failures led to a violent and unprecedented breach of the United States Capitol.

Peters said the report offers bipartisan recommendations that lawmakers, Capitol security officials and national security officials can take to ensure the Capitol is secure from ongoing threats.

“Thanks to the heroic actions of U.S. Capitol Police, D.C. Metropolitan Police, the National Guard and others – rioters on January 6th failed to achieve their goal of preventing the certification of a free and fair presidential election. The events of January 6th were horrific, and our bipartisan investigation identified many unacceptable, widespread breakdowns in security preparations and emergency response related to this attack,” said Senator Peters. “Our report offers critical recommendations to address these failures and strengthen security for the Capitol to prevent an attack of this nature from ever happening again.”

The report’s key findings include:

• The Federal Intelligence Community, including the FBI Department of Homeland Security and the United States Capitol Police, did not warn of potential violence and failed to convey the full scope of threat ahead of January 6.
• Capitol Police was not adequately prepared to prevent or respond to the January 6 security threats, which contributed to the breach of the Capitol.
• Opaque processes and a lack of emergency authority delayed requests for National Guard assistance.
• The intelligence failures, coupled with the Capitol Police Board’s failure to request National Guard assistance prior to January 6, meant the District of Columbia National Guard was not activated, staged, and prepared to quickly respond to an attack on the Capitol. As the attack unfolded, the Department of Defense (DOD) required time to approve the request and gather, equip, and instruct its personnel on the mission, which resulted in additional delays.