WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� A Senate investigation of has uncovered broad government, military and law enforcement missteps surrounding the violent attack, including a breakdown within multiple intelligence agencies and a lack of training and preparation for Capitol Police officers who were quickly overwhelmed by the rioters.
The Senate report released Tuesday is the first 鈥� and could be the last 鈥� bipartisan review of how hundreds of were able to violently push past security lines and break into the Capitol that day, interrupting the certification of President Joe Biden鈥檚 victory.
It includes new details about the police officers on the front lines who suffered chemical burns, brain injuries and broken bones and who told senators that they were left with no direction when command systems broke down. It recommends immediate changes to give the Capitol Police chief more authority, to provide better planning and equipment for law enforcement and to streamline intelligence gathering among federal agencies.
As a bipartisan effort, the report does not delve into the root causes of the attack, including Trump's role as he called for his supporters to 鈥渇ight like hell鈥� to overturn his election defeat that day. It does not call the attack an insurrection, . And it comes two weeks after a bipartisan, independent commission that would investigate the insurrection more broadly.
鈥淭his report is important in the fact that it allows us to make some immediate improvements to the security situation here in the Capitol,鈥� said Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which conducted the probe along with the Senate Rules Committee. 鈥淏ut it does not answer some of the bigger questions that we need to face, quite frankly, as a country and as a democracy.鈥�
The House in May passed legislation to create a commission that would be modeled after a panel that investigated the Sept. 11 terrorist attack two decades ago. But the Senate failed to get the 60 votes needed to advance, with many Republicans pointing to the Senate report as sufficient.
The top Republican on the Rules panel, Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, has opposed the commission, arguing that investigation would take too long. He said the recommendations made in the Senate can be implemented faster, including legislation that he and Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the rules committee chair, intend to introduce soon that would give the chief of Capitol Police more authority to request assistance from the National Guard.
The Senate report recounts how the Guard was delayed for hours on Jan. 6 as officials in multiple agencies took bureaucratic steps to release the troops. It details hours of calls between officials in the Capitol and the Pentagon and as the then-chief of the Capitol Police, Steven Sund, desperately begged for help.
It finds that the Pentagon spent hours 鈥渕ission planning鈥� and seeking multiple layers of approvals as Capitol Police were being overwhelmed and brutally beaten by the rioters. It also states that the Defense Department鈥檚 response was 鈥渋nformed by criticism鈥� of its heavy-handed response to after in police custody.
The senators are heavily critical of the Capitol Police Board, a three-member panel that includes the heads of security for the House and Senate and the Architect of the Capitol. The board is now required to approve requests by the police chief, even in urgent situations. The report recommends that its members 鈥渞egularly review the policies and procedures鈥� after senators found that none of the board members on Jan. 6 understood their own authority or could detail the statutory requirements for requesting National Guard assistance.
Two of the three members of the board, the House and Senate sergeants at arms, were pushed out in the days after the attack. Sund also resigned under pressure.
Congress needs to change the law and give the police chief more authority 鈥渋mmediately,鈥� Klobuchar said.
The report recommends a consolidated intelligence unit within the Capitol Police after widespread failures from multiple agencies that did not predict the attack even though insurrectionists were planning it openly on the internet. The police's intelligence unit 鈥渒new about social media posts calling for violence at the Capitol on January 6, including a plot to breach the Capitol, the online sharing of maps of the Capitol Complex鈥檚 tunnel systems, and other specific threats of violence,鈥� the report says, but agents did not properly inform leadership of everything they had found.
The senators also criticize the FBI and the Homeland Security Department for downplaying online threats and for not issuing formal intelligence bulletins that help law enforcement plan.
In a response to the report, the Capitol Police acknowledged the need for improvements, some of which they said they are already making. 鈥淟aw enforcement agencies across the country rely on intelligence, and the quality of that intelligence can mean the difference between life and death,鈥� the statement said.
During the attack, the report says, Capitol Police were heavily compromised by multiple failures 鈥� bad intelligence, poor planning, faulty equipment and a lack of leadership. The force鈥檚 incident command system 鈥渂roke down during the attack,鈥� leaving officers on the front lines without orders. There were no functional incident commanders, and some senior officers were fighting instead of giving orders. 鈥淯SCP leadership never took control of the radio system to communicate orders to front-line officers,鈥� the investigation found.
鈥淚 was horrified that NO deputy chief or above was on the radio or helping us,鈥� one officer told the committee in an anonymous statement. 鈥淔or hours the screams on the radio were horrific(,) the sights were unimaginable and there was a complete loss of control. ... For hours NO Chief or above took command and control. Officers were begging and pleading for help for medical triage.鈥�
Acting Chief of Police , who replaced Sund after his resignation, told the committees that the lack of communication resulted from 鈥渋ncident commanders being overwhelmed and engaging with rioters, rather than issuing orders over the radio.鈥�
The committee鈥檚 interviews with police officers detail what one officer told them was 鈥渁bsolutely brutal鈥� abuse from Trump鈥檚 supporters as they ran over them and broke into the building. They described hearing racial slurs and seeing Nazi salutes. One officer trying to evacuate the Senate said he had stopped several men in full tactical gear who said 鈥淵ou better get out of our way, boy, or we鈥檒l go through you to get (the Senators).鈥欌��
The insurrectionists told police officers they would kill them, and then the members of Congress. One officer said he had a 鈥渢angible fear鈥� that he might not make it home alive.
At the same time, the senators acknowledge the officers鈥� bravery, noting that one officer told them, 鈥淭he officers inside all behaved admirably and heroically and, even outnumbered, went on the offensive and took the Capitol back.鈥�
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Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo contributed to this report.
Mary Clare Jalonick, The Associated Press
