The Senate report from the Homeland Security and Rules committees said neither the Department of Homeland Security nor the FBI issued a threat assessment or joint intelligence bulletin specific to the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress to count Electoral College votes.
Then-Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, who resigned the day after the riot, attributed the security failures to not having better intelligence from federal partners. He told a Senate hearing Feb. 23 that the intelligence provided by the department’s Intelligence and Interagency Coordination Division was “very similar to the previous assessments. It was just a little bit more detailed.”
Capitol Police, with about 2,000 officers and civilian staffers, had 14 people listed with the intelligence division on Jan. 6, according to the Senate report. The Senate and a task force headed by retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré recommended beefing up the intelligence division.
A DHS official told the Senate investigation during a briefing March 1 that he was “not aware of any known direct threat to the Capitol before Jan. 6,” despite many online posts mentioning violence. The Capitol Police intelligence division found no specific threats to the joint session of Congress, but that “the threat of disruptive actions or violence cannot be ruled out,” according to the Senate report.
In briefings, intelligence officials “highlighted the difficulty in discerning credible threats from online bravado and constitutionally protected speech,” according to the Senate report.
Jill Sanborn, assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, acknowledged to the Senate panels at a March hearing there was room for improving distribution of threat assessments. But she said it was difficult to determine an individual’s intent through the “volume” of rhetoric. She said the FBI met with some individuals to persuade them not to come to Washington, D.C.
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