Probe reveals broad security failures around Capitol riot
A Senate investigation into the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol has uncovered broad government, military and law enforcement missteps surrounding the violent attack, including a breakdown within multiple intelligence agencies, and a lack of training and preparation for Capitol police officers.
The Senate report released on Tuesday is the first bipartisan review of how hundreds of former president Donald Trump’s supporters were able to push past security lines and break into the Capitol that day, interrupting the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.
The report includes details of the police officers on the front lines who told senators that they were left with no direction when command systems broke down.
The Senate report recounts how the National Guard was delayed for hours on January 6 as officials in multiple agencies took bureaucratic steps to release the troops.
The report also says the Pentagon spent hours “mission planning” and seeking multiple layers of approvals as Capitol police were being overwhelmed and brutally beaten by the rioters. It recommends immediate changes to give the Capitol police chief more authority and to streamline intelligence gathering among federal agencies.
As a bipartisan effort, the report does not delve into the root causes of the attack. It also doesn’t not call the attack an insurrection.
Pentagon runs massive clandestine force: Report
Pentagon has apparently created the world’s largest clandestine force over the past 10 years, which has carried out operations that even the US government has condemned, according to a recent report by American magazine Newsweek.
The report, titled Inside the military’s secret undercover army, said after an investigation, it found “some 60,000 people now belong to this secret army, many working under masked identities and in low profile, all part of a programme called signature reduction”.
The Pentagon’s clandestine force reportedly included special operations forces and military intelligence specialists, among others.