US Homeland Security department failed to warn about Capitol threats

US Homeland Security department failed to warn about Capitol threats.

Washington: The US Department of Homeland Security’s intelligence office knew about threats to the Capitol in 2021 well in advance but didn’t tell other law enforcement agencies until it was too late, the department’s internal watchdog says. This is what the watchdog found.

It says the Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) didn’t share information about the storming of the building by supporters of then-President Trump, who wanted to stop Congress from certifying that he lost the election in November 2020.

I&A also didn’t share information about the storming at least three times.

More than 140 police officers and members of the media were hurt in the attack. Police shot and killed one of the protesters, Ashli Babbitt, as she climbed through a door.

Since the attack, 775 people have been charged with crimes.

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There was a lot of open source threat information about January 6 in the weeks before the events at the Capitol, but I&A didn’t release any intelligence products about these threats until January 8, the report says. It blames “inexperienced collectors” and “inadequate training.”

Some people tried to share information about a right-wing group that planned to shut down water service in Washington, DC, at 11:29am on January 6.

Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, was charged with conspiracy on Tuesday, just a few hours after the inspector general’s report was released.

He and other members of the group were trying to stop the election of Vice President Joe Biden from being certified by Congress.

Other cryptic messages found by intelligence-gatherers included people who talked about giving away the US Capitol building maps.

When one person wrote to another on January 2, 2021, “I found a map of all the exits and entrances to the Capitol building.” “I think that people are going to try to hurt politicians.” Jan. 6th is going to be crazy.

John Cohen, a senior official with the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, said he agreed with the report’s findings and recommendations, which call for more training and faster reporting of urgent open-source threat intelligence.

The attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, was a “violent attack” on our democracy, a DHS spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said that the DHS has “stepped up intelligence analysis, information sharing, and operational preparedness” since the attack and that these things have been done.