Internal investigators for the departments of Justice, Defense, the Interior and Homeland Security will investigate how security officials prepared for and responded to last week’s pro-Trump rally in Washington that descended into a riot at the U.S. Capitol, officials announced Friday.
The inspectors general for all of those agencies will review what people knew and how they prepared for that day, Jan. 6, along with their actions during the riot that resulted in five deaths, according to news releases. Questions have swirled about how such an important government building — with so many security agencies available to assist — could be overcome by a mob of people wielding bats, bear spray and brute force.
Some current and former law enforcement officials have called the disturbing incident an intelligence failure, in that federal agencies did not seem to have a sense of the urgency or danger leading up to the attack. Others have argued it was less a failure of intelligence than a failure to act on the intelligence gathered, much of it from public discussions online. Continue reading.