A bipartisan report in the US Senate on the deadly Jan. 6 attack on Congress by Trump supporters cited intelligence failure to identify threats and prevent such attacks, as well as security inefficiencies on the day of the incident.
In a new report, U.S. Senate researchers report a significant set of intelligence and communication failures that led to the Jan. 6 attack on Congress.
The 127-page report, which includes the text of former President Donald Trump’s speech to pro-demonstrators on the day of the attack, is the first full review by the Congressional Committee on the deadly attack, according to Hill, a news website close to the US Congress.
The report cites numerous warnings of possible violence that have been widely ignored by officials in various agencies; An issue that left congressional police forces unprepared for clashes with hundreds of protesters inside and outside the building.
The report also includes a series of interviews with security officials in Congress, the Pentagon and the US intelligence community about the day.
In a joint effort by the Senate Law Committee, the Homeland Security Committee, and the Senate State Affairs Committee, delays have been reported due to paperwork in assisting Congress and receiving erratic and scattered instructions from commanders.
Sen. Amy Clutch, chairman of the Senate Legislature, said in a statement: The failures are obvious. I think it all came together in one of the cases in our report, and that was the voice of one of the officers who that day asked the simple annoying question, “Does anyone have a plan?” Unfortunately, no one had a plan.
The report also shows how people who arrived in Washington that day to protest shared online maps of the underground tunnels of the Congress building that lawmakers use for traffic.
In total, the bipartisan report cites the wrong actions of the government, the army and the police in the days leading up to the incident and on the day of the deadly attack. The study also noted inconsistencies in US intelligence agencies, the lack of training and preparedness of congressional police officers, who were quickly defeated by the attackers.
Reacting to the report, Congressional Police said in a statement: Neither we nor the FBI, the Washington Secret Service, the police, or our other law enforcement partners knew that thousands of people were planning to attack the Congress building, and the information provided does not support the outcome of this report.
The Senate report did not mention the root cause of the attack, including Donald Trump’s role in inciting his supporters.