Frank Figluzzi: The Senate asked all the wrong questions about the pro-Trump attack on the Capitol

[triron]

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/senate-asked-all-wrong-questions-about-pro-trump-attack-capitol-n1258728

'After the insurrection, two ProPublica journalists interviewed 19 current and former U.S. Capitol Police officers about the assault on the Capitol. They also obtained confidential intelligence bulletins and previously unreported planning documents. Significantly, their reporting provides something other than the convenient “intelligence failure” rationale as to why planning was so poor when it came to protecting our iconic symbol of democracy.

The interviews also revealed officers’ concerns about disparities in the way the force prepared for Black Lives Matter demonstrations versus the pro-Trump protests on Jan. 6. Officers said the Capitol Police force usually plans intensively for protests, even if they are deemed unlikely to grow violent. Officers said they spent weeks working 12- or 16-hour days, poised to fight off a riot, after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police — even though intelligence suggested there was not much danger from protesters.

“We had intel that nothing was going to happen — literally nothing,” said one former official with direct knowledge of planning for the Black Lives Matter demonstrations. “The response was, ‘We don’t trust the intel.'"

Law enforcement and security officials are trained to ensure that the planning, posture and presence for an event is commensurate with the intelligence, threat and risk. When those things don’t match up, cops notice — and they ask questions. What these cops are telling us is that when there’s no indication of threat or risk for a Black Lives Matter demonstration, they were told to prepare for a riot.

Yet, when social media was screaming threat and risk for Jan. 6, the planning, posture and presence didn’t come close to matching the available intelligence. This wasn’t about legal constraints or resources; this was about our collective inability to see people who look like us as a serious threat. Moreover, it’s about the ease with which we so quickly assess as a threat those who are different.'

[Hugh_Lebowski]

1. So friggin frustrating, on so many levels (nt)

[BobTheSubgenius]

2. That is a very unsettling, and slightly depressing, view of the...

...disruptions in society in general, let's say. Mild and certainly minimalizing certain events, but good enough for now.