Senate Report States FBI and Homeland Security Neglected Significant Intel Prior to Jan. 6

The Senate report unveiled on Tuesday claims that ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S Capitol attack, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security either underestimated or overlooked “an enormous volume of intelligence data.” The report results from an investigation by a Senate committee into the intelligence shortfalls preceding the insurrection.

The report scrutinizes the inability of these agencies to anticipate and provide warning about the potential for violence, as many of Donald Trump’s supporters had openly plotted the siege via online messages and forums.

The report notes that intelligence warnings such as a December 2020 tip to the FBI about the far-right extremist group Proud Boys’ intention to attend the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in Washington, D.C. with a violent plan were disregarded. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee pointed out that the agencies also knew about several social media posts suggesting potential violence, with some urging Trump’s supporters to “come armed” to the Capitol.

According to the report, Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, the Democratic chairman of the Homeland panel, defined the oversight as primarily a “failure of imagination” to take seriously the threat of the Capitol being breached, reflecting the findings of the Sept. 11 commission regarding intelligence failures prior to the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The majority staff of the panel highlighted in their report that the intelligence community has not entirely pivoted its focus from international terrorism to domestic threats. They also failed to raise the alarm, partly due to their disbelief that the U.S. Capitol Building could be overrun by rioters.

This is the first congressional report exclusively examining the actions of the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis, despite several other reports previously analyzing the intelligence failures around Jan. 6. Peters said that there was mutual blaming among officials from both agencies, based on the committee’s interviews.

The report alleges that the agencies did not fail in gathering evidence but in evaluating the threat level and communicating it appropriately to law enforcement partners. This led to an inadequate preparedness of law enforcement and a lack of a secure perimeter around the Capitol.

The report also reveals that the FBI and Homeland Security continued to underestimate the threat, even as the Capitol Police were struggling to secure the building. Despite visible signs of danger, the FBI still claimed that there were “no credible threats at this time.”

The report includes numerous tips about potential violence on Jan. 6 that were dismissed due to coordination failures, bureaucratic hold-ups, or apprehension on the part of intelligence collectors. For instance, Homeland Security analysts were hesitant to report open-source intelligence following criticism in 2020 for collecting intelligence on American citizens during racial justice demonstrations.

Despite numerous warnings, the agency consistently claimed that there were no credible threats, the Senate panel discovered. The new report calls for an overhaul of the federal government’s domestic intelligence collection, analysis, and dissemination procedures.

In response to the report, both the Homeland Security and the FBI stated that they have strengthened intelligence analysis, information sharing, and operational readiness. They also emphasized their commitment to battling domestic violent extremists.

FBI Director Christopher Wray has defended the FBI’s pre-Jan. 6 intelligence handling, citing a report from its Norfolk field office on Jan. 5 that pointed to online posts predicting a “war” in Washington the next day. The Senate report observed that the memo overlooked other warnings the agency had received.

The criticism directed at the FBI and Homeland Security Department parallels the sharp criticism aimed at U.S. Capitol Police in a bipartisan report issued by the Senate Homeland and Rules committees two years ago. This previous report discovered that the police intelligence unit was aware of social media posts advocating violence but did not alert senior leadership.

Peters emphasized the importance of acknowledging these failures to prevent them from happening again.

Reporters Eric Tucker and Rebecca Santana from Big Big News contributed to this report.

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More about intelligence failures

• Senate report on intelligence failures
• Sept. 11 Commission Report
• U.S. Government Accountability Office report on Capitol damage
• House Jan. 6 Committee report
• Bipartisan Senate report on U.S. Capitol Police
• FBI official statement on intelligence handling
• Department of Homeland Security statement on intelligence improvements