WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal watchdogs have launched a comprehensive review of how the FBI, Pentagon and other law enforcement agencies responded to the U.S. Capitol riot, including whether there was a failure to exchange information. and other preparations that left the historic symbol of democracy vulnerable to the assault of a crowd of supporters of President Donald Trump.
The investigations, conducted by inspectors general of the departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Interior and Defense, have the potential to present fiery criticism of the government’s management of a deadly breach in the Capitol, where Trump’s loyal gunmen attacked police and they came into close contact with the elected officials. The reviews will include from whether the FBI has properly shared information with other law enforcement agencies about the potential for violence to how the Pentagon mobilized for the Jan. 6 crisis.
The onset of multiple simultaneous investigations occurs as failures in government preparation, coordination, and response are increasingly concentrated more than a week after the riot. Capitol police, for example, have said they were preparing only for the first amendment in the capital on the day lawmakers met to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over Trump, though the same Trump had for weeks encouraged his supporters to come to Washington and called on them to “fight like hell” in a rally shortly before the riot.
The Pentagon has said Capitol police turned down an aid offer days before the riot. Once it became clear on the day of the event that their help would be needed, the Department of Defense had to fight to incorporate a larger force to support the police.
An FBI official who initially said there was no intelligence to suggest out-of-control violence later acknowledged that the office was aware of a warning on an Internet message board, though the official said the message was not attributed to anyone.
In the Justice Department, the inspector general will investigate whether the Justice Department has properly shared information with other agencies, including the Capitol Police, about the potential for violence.
The inspector general said that “it will also assess whether there are weaknesses in DOJ protocols, policies, or procedures that adversely affect the DOJ’s or its components’ ability to prepare for and respond effectively to U.S. Capitol events on 6 January “.
The review will almost certainly include an assessment of the intelligence that the Justice Department (and particularly the FBI) had collected before and after the riot. It comes days after the FBI granted that one of its field offices drafted an internal bulletin warning of possible violence directed at Congress.
The Washington Post reported that the Jan. 5 report from the FBI’s foreign office in Norfolk said the bulletin detailed extremist threats to commit a “war.”
Steven D’Antuono, the deputy director in charge of the FBI’s local Washington office, said that once the warning was received, the information was quickly shared with other law enforcement agencies through the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Washington, DC
The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general’s office said it would study the response of its component agencies, focusing in part on the Office of Intelligence and Analysis. This unit issues alerts to law enforcement agencies across the country.
Meanwhile, the Department of the Interior’s internal watchdog will review the park’s police actions on the Ellipse, the site of Trump’s speech to supporters at a rally ahead of the riot.
And the Department of Defense inspector general announced he would launch a review of the Pentagon’s “roles, responsibilities and actions” to prepare for and respond to the protest Trump spoke of and the post-Capitol insurgency.
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Associated Press writers Ellen Knickmeyer and Ben Fox contributed to this report.