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Senate hearing on Capitol riot security breach gets underway
Former top Capitol security officials testified before a joint-Senate panel hearing on Tuesday that prior intelligence failed to forecast the extent of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6 when a mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters marched on the government building as lawmakers were certifying the November election.
Steven Sund, the former chief of the Capitol Police, said in his opening statement that there was a “clear lack of accurate and complete intelligence” across the federal agencies before the attack, information that was essential on how to develop security plans.
He said they based their response on information that the gathering of pro-Trump supporters on that day would be similar to MAGA rallies the previous year that brought tens of thousands to Washington, DC.
“Based on the intelligence that we received, we planned for an increased level of violence at the Capitol and that some participants may be armed, but none of the intelligence that we received predicted what actually occurred,” Sund said.
“We properly planned for a mass demonstration with possible violence, what we got was a military-style coordinated assault on my officers and a violent takeover of the Capitol building,” he told senators.
He said the mob that descended on the Capitol Jan. 6 “came prepared for war.”
“They came with their own radio system to coordinate the attack, as well as climbing gear and other equipment to defeat the Capitol’s security features,” Sund added.
Paul Irving, the former sergeant-at-arms of the House, agreed with Sund’s assessment during his opening remarks before the Senate Homeland Security Committee and the Senate Committee on Rules.
“The intelligence was not that there would be a coordinated assault on the Capitol, nor was that contemplated in any of the inter-agency discussions that I attended in the days before the attack,” Irving said.
He said that Capitol Police received information from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security but neither agency “assessed or forecast a coordinated assault on the Capitol like the one that took place.”
He said that based on the intelligence security officials had received, they believed that had drawn up a plan to meet the threat.
“We now know that we had the wrong plan,” he added.
Also testifying at the hearing is Michael Stenger, the former sergeant-at-arms of the Senate, and Robert Contee, the acting chief of police for the Metropolitan Police Department, whose officers responded to the scene and helped repeal the mob from the Capitol building.
Irving, Sund and Stenger stepped down immediately after the attack.
Five people died in the mayhem, including a Capitol Police officer.
Robert Contee, the acting chief of police for the Metropolitan Police Department, whose officers responded to the scene, is also appearing.
Senators are expected to aggressively question the four on how much they knew about the riot beforehand, how they prepared for the onslaught that had been talked about publicly online, how they shared information between agencies, and why the Capitol Police were so easily overpowered by the rioters.
The mob, many of them carrying Trump, American and Blue Lives Matter signs, breached the defenses to get to the Capitol where they shattered windows and busted down doors to enter the federal facility, leaving lawmakers gathered to certify the Electoral College vote for President Biden scurrying to safe locations.
Some entered and vandalized lawmakers’ offices, including that of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
More than 200 people have been charged for their roles in the breach, including some with ties to extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
More than 140 Capitol Police officers and roughly 65 Metropolitan police officers were injured in the siege.
