Acting U.S. Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman told lawmakers today there was a failure to adequately prepare for and execute a response to the assault on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th and offered “sincerest apologies” on behalf of her department for what unfolded that day.
“The Department failed to meet its own high standards as well as yours,” Pittman wrote in a statement shared by the House Appropriations Committee.
“Let me be clear: the Department should have been more prepared for this attack,” her statement continued. “By January 4th, the Department knew that the January 6th event would not be like any of the previous protests held in 2020. We knew that militia groups and white supremacists organizations would be attending. We also knew that some of these participants were intending to bring firearms and other weapons to the event. We knew that there was a strong potential for violence and that Congress was the target.”
Despite the early warning signs, Pittman writes, the Capitol Police Board refused a request from former USCP Chief Steven Sund to declare a state of emergency and authorize a request for National Guard support. The board consists of the Sergeant at Arms of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper of the U.S. Senate, and the Architect of the Capitol.
Both the House and Senate Sergeants at Arms resigned in the wake of the attack, as did Sund. Acting House Sergeant at Arms Timothy Blodgett, in a separate statement, did not address the Capitol Police Board’s decision to deny Sund’s request.
Instead, the Board directed Sund to reach out to D.C. National Guard to determine how many could be sent to the Capitol on short notice. Their commanding general, Maj. Gen. William Walker, told the Washington Post Tuesday that the Pentagon restricted his authority to deploy his troops without higher-level sign off, which cost valuable time as rioters descended on the Capitol.
“I do not believe there was any preparations that would have allowed for an open campus in which lawful protestors could exercise their first amendment right to free speech and at the same time prevented the attack on Capital grounds that day,” Pittman concludes.
Although the USCP increased their staffing before the attacks to a total of 1,200 officers working at the site, Pittman said they were “no match for the tens of thousands of insurrectionists,” some of whom were armed. Additionally, the department had to deploy officers to investigate a pipe bomb that was discovered at Republican National Committee headquarters, which required an evacuation of two House office buildings and the surrounding neighborhoods, before discovering another vehicle with explosive chemicals and a firearm in the area and a second pipe bomb at Democratic National Committee headquarters.
Pittman says her officers lacked “less lethal options” like impact weapons to supplement their pepper spray and batons, and had trouble communicating over radio with the noise of the ongoing attack. She additionally acknowledges that the Capitol lockdown procedures she ordered “may not have been consistently followed,” a likely reference to videos from the scene that showed some officers allowing rioters to enter the building.
In the wake of the attack, Pittman told members of Congress, the department has increased its intelligence sharing and implemented daily briefings for USCP officials from the department’s Intelligence director. Officers are receiving additional training on civil disturbance procedures.
In a separate statement, Blodgett blamed a failure of preparation.
“Whether it was insufficient or conflicting intelligence, lacking ability to translate that intelligence into action, insufficient preparation or an inadequate ability to mobilize partner agencies for immediate assistance, a series of events, once thought unfathomable, unfolded allowing our most sacred halls to be breached,” he said.
He praised the evacuation procedures inside the Capitol that day and commended his staff and USCP officers for getting all members and staff in the Capitol home safely that day. But he also said it would be necessary to harden security around the U.S. Capitol campus and improve communications with Hill staff.
Blodgett also called for implementation of a real-time system to for members to notify the sergeant at arms if they or their staff is in danger.
