Buried in the 814-page Capitol riot report are fresh details about the woeful inadequacies surrounding the law enforcement response: from the lack of agency coordination to missed and ignored warning signs about the potential for violence.
: One of the most confronting aspects of the January 6 select committee’s final report into the US Capitol attack is just how close America came to having the results of a lawful election violently overthrown.of the event, one thing should not be overlooked: the failure of law enforcement agencies who knew for weeks that an attack was being planned.
“Although some of that intelligence was fragmentary, it should have been sufficient to warrant far more vigorous preparations for the security of the joint session. The failure to sufficiently share and act upon that intelligence jeopardised the lives of the police officers defending the Capitol and everyone in it.”
The FBI, however, argued that its hands were tied, saying the best it could do was inform the appropriate law enforcement partner about the online discussions. The anonymous tip also stressed: “Their plan is to literally kill people … Please please take this tip seriously and investigate further.” As for the coordination that took place leading up to the Capitol riot? It took until January 3 for a coordination call to take place between the key agencies, including the departments of Defence, Justice and Homeland Security. Then acting secretary of defence Christopher Miller convened one, he said, because “no-one else was doing it”.
But as the report also noted, “thousands of others purposely remained outside the magnetometers, or left their packs outside”.