Published 14:31 IST, February 7th 2021
Former US Capitol Police chief blames aid, intelligence delay during insurrection
Fired US Police chief blamed law enforcement agencies, including FBI, US Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security for delay in sending aid during breach.
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The former chief of the US Capitol Police, Steven Sund on February 6 detailed the timeline of the events that led to the Capitol building insurrection on January 6, holding law enforcement agencies responsible for inept actions ahead of the Capitol breach. In a letter, addressed to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other key Congress lawmakers and Senate members obtained by CNN, the fired Police chief blamed several law enforcement agencies, including Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), US Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security and the DC Metropolitan Police Department for its failure in being able to effectively and clearly convey the threat and risks of violence in the protests, citing, that similar assessments were made earlier for pro-Trump rallies, which did not witness barbarity.
Ex-Police chief, in his letter, mentioned that there were unforeseen delays for the Capitol Police officers to get aid while the assault was underway, adding that the intelligence briefing processes held in advance were completely inadequate. ‘Entire intelligence community missed it,’ Sund alleged in the sensitive document. Adding to it, he said, that whilst the mob in angst raided the west front of the Capitol, breaking through police barricades, ransacking the structure, rendering chaos, the Capitol deputies had ‘limited resources’ given by the law agencies, which, he said, were insufficient to tackle the ‘rapidly deteriorating situation’. Sund questioned, how’d have the Congress expected the Capitol police department to withhold the violence spewing mob congregated in numbers as large with delays when he sought assistance from local law enforcement agencies and National Guard units after the perimeter was breached.
[Photo: AP/file]
[Members of the U.S. Secret Service Counter Assault Team walk through the Rotunda. Photo: AP/file]
Delay in troop deployment
‘It took more than four hours for requested Guard troops to get sworn in at the Capitol,’ Sund’s letter, cited by CNN news network, alleged. It was only, after several hours later, that 1,700 police officers from 18 nearby jurisdictions were convened in the interim at Capitol, amid ongoing insurrection, that had slipped off hand. In his accounting, the former Capitol police chief named Army Lt. General Walter Piatt and House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving, citing “optics" as the reason for the delay in deployment of National Guards at the scene.
He asserted, that despite outmanned by the mob, he didn’t believe that the US Capitol Police ‘failed’, additionally stating that officers had managed to keep the Congress members safe, nevertheless. If the US Capitol police had been cautioned appropriately of an armed insurrection, it would have staffed up, Sound said, adding that lack of intelligence is noteworthy. In the aftermath of the attempt at a coup by the Trump-inspired MAGA crowd, Pelosi had immediately called for Sund to turn in resignation on Jan. 7. In his resignation, Sund had blamed the intelligence for calling mob uprising at Capitol as similar to post-election demonstrations from November and December. Sund briefed Pence on the security situation 5 hours after Capitol was sieged.
14:31 IST, February 7th 2021