'Planned in plain sight': Senate report finds intel agencies failed in the lead-up to Jan. 6
The FBI and DHS downplayed the potential for violence even as rioters openly planned to attack the Capitol online, Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security Committee found.
June 27, 2023, 5:00 AM EDT
By Ryan Nobles and Ryan J. Reilly
WASHINGTON — Federal law enforcement agencies failed to correctly analyze a wide range of intelligence showing the potential for violence on Jan. 6, 2021, Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security Committee concluded in a report released Tuesday.
The report, written by the committee's chair, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and staff, provides specific examples of threats of violence and plans for an attack on the Capitol that were collected by agencies in the lead-up to Jan. 6, including the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A). The report concludes that the agencies consistently downplayed the potential for violence and, as a result, the government did not prepare the proper security apparatus for Washington that day.
"At a fundamental level, the agencies failed to fulfill their mission and connect the public and nonpublic information they received," the report reads, pointing to internal emails and documents that "demonstrate the breadth and gravity of the threats these agencies received related to January 6th."
As an example, on Jan. 2, 2021, four days before the riot, the social media platform Parler sent a post from a user on its site to the FBI that read, “This is not a rally and it’s no longer a protest. This is a final stand where we are drawing the red line at Capitol Hill. … don’t be surprised if we take the #capital building.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/planned-plain-sight-senate-report-finds-intel-agencies-failed-lead-jan-rcna91166
( Yea, why would anyone worry about as specific a threat as that. )
= new reply since forum marked as read
