Democrats say the agencies ‘do not sound the alarm’ about much of the advice they receive. : NPR

A noose is seen on a makeshift gallows as Donald Trump supporters riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images

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ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images

A noose is seen on a makeshift gallows as Donald Trump supporters riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images

Nearly two and a half years after the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Senate Democrats are criticizing intelligence agencies for failing to “accurately assess the severity of the relationship.” identified threat” and act. with law enforcement to prepare for violence.

In spite of public report And prime hour congressional investigations showed intelligence agencies received advice on plans of violence on January 6, report by majority staff of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee adds new information about the extent of those warnings and accuses the agencies of both downplaying the threat and not sharing intelligence effectively with law enforcement.

“Despite the plethora of tips and online traffic about the potential for violence — some of which the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Office of Intelligence and Analysis have known since early December 2020 — the The agency failed to sound the alarm and shared criticism of intelligence that could have helped law enforcement better prepare for the events of January 6.^{lame pants},” the committee chair, Senator Gary Peters, said in a statement.

The 105 pages long reportlicensed Plan with a clear vision, detailing warnings received by intelligence agencies about plans of violence on January 6, Congress convenes to confirm the results of the Electoral College of the 2020 presidential election.

One example cited in the report comes from social media platform Parler, which sent a post from one of its users to the FBI on January 2, 2021 that reads: “That’s it.” It’s not a protest anymore. This is the final stance we’re taking on the red line on Capitol Hill. …don’t be surprised if we take the #capital.”

In response to the commission’s report, the FBI defended its efforts to “disrupt and stay ahead of all threats.”

“We are constantly trying to learn and evaluate what we could do better or differently, and this is especially true with the attack on the United States Capitol,” the FBI said in a statement. statement, adding that since the attack, the agency has increased its focus on its operations. about “rapid information sharing” with law enforcement partners across the country, and improvements have been made to support analysts in field offices.

Report says intelligence leaders ‘do not sound the alarm’

The report said the failures leading up to January 6 “were not failures in intelligence gathering, noting that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis have obtained many information” in the days and weeks leading up to the attack. sounded the alarm.”

Instead, those agencies failed to fully and accurately assess the severity of the threat identified by such intelligence and formally disseminate guidance to law enforcement partners. with sufficient urgency and warning to help those partners prepare for the violence that ultimately occurred,” the report said. status report.

The report deemed the agency’s actions a “failure of imagination,” fueled by “bias in the discounting of intelligence that points to an unprecedented event.”

The report said intelligence analysts and leaders “did not sound the alarm about January 6 in part because they could not imagine that the US Capitol would be occupied by rioters.” overrun.”

“This reflects the intelligence community’s struggle to adapt to the new reality that the primary threat to homeland security (as identified by these same agencies) now is terrorism in the United States.” country largely due to anti-government ideology and white supremacy,” the report added.

The report also notes that the FBI changed its third-party social media surveillance contract just days before the attack, which caused its open source surveillance capabilities to “degrade”.

“Internal emails obtained by the Commission show that FBI officials were surprised at the timing of the contract change and complained about the negative impact it would have on their surveillance capabilities prior to the date of the change. January 6,” the report said.

The report also found that the Department of Homeland Security was hesitant to issue warnings before January 6, in part due to criticism it received the previous summer over its handling of related information. to protests against the police killing of George Floyd.

NPR has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment on the report.

New Orleans FBI Office Issues Warning Before Attack

Although the FBI received a warning prior to the attack, internal emails obtained by the committee show the agency repeatedly saying it did not identify a credible threat.

The report mentions only two limited intelligence documents provided by the FBI on the eve of the attack and argues that the FBI is more focused on potential clashes between protesters and protesters, not threat to the Capitol and the legislators within.

Those two documents, from the New Orleans FBI office, warn that some protesters in DC have formed an armed “rapid response force” in Northern Virginia. The FBI’s Norfolk Field office in Virginia has issued a “status intelligence report” sharing a number of threatening online posts. The committee argued that the FBI did not widely distribute the documents to all federal partners.

The report makes recommendations, including improving the FBI and I&A policies and procedures for collecting, analyzing, and sharing intelligence with partner agencies, and designates a relevant agency. state to help coordinate important events.

The Senate report comes as the DOJ’s inspector general continues his own investigation into the failures that led to the attack on the Capitol.

NPR National Justice Correspondent Carrie Johnson contributed to this report.