by Sharon Rondeau
(Apr. 15, 2021) — The inspector general for the U.S. Capitol Police will testify Thursday afternoon to the Committee on House Administration regarding “the Department’s” preparation or lack thereof for the January 6 “riot” which shut down the U.S. Capitol, where Congress was convened to count the Electoral votes for president from the November 3 election.
In prepared remarks, USCP IG Michael Bolton will refer to “flash reports” his office has been producing about the incident and contend that ” deficiencies with the Department’s operational planning and intelligence for planned demonstrations on January 6, 2021″ encompassed “a) lack of a comprehensive operational plan or adequate guidance for operational planning, (b) failure to disseminate relevant information obtained from outside sources, (c) lack of consensus on the interpretation of threat analyses, (d)dissemination of conflicting intelligence, and (e) lack of security clearances.”
The hearing will begin at 1:00 p.m., according to the committee’s majority website and is titled, “Oversight of the United States Capitol Police and Preparations for and Response to the Attack of January 6th.”
According to mainstream reports, Bolton’s office issued a report in early March and a second report on Tuesday. The Post & Email has found that neither has been made available to the public in its entirety, with CBS News reporting that USCP is not obligated to release IG reports publicly.
Most reporting Thursday morning refers to a New York Times article which describes the contents of the latest report without releasing it.
Among Bolton’s findings:
The Department lacked adequate guidance for operational planning. USCP did not have policies and procedures in place that communicated which personnel were responsible for operational planning, what type of operational planning documents its personnel should prepare, nor when its personnel should prepare operational planning documents. Additionally, USCP lacked guidance requiring that its various entities coordinate their planning efforts into a comprehensive plan.
Interviews with USCP officials revealed a lack of consensus about whether intelligence information regarding planned events on January 6, 2021, actually indicated specific known 7threats to the Joint Session of Congress. Certain officials believed USCP intelligence products indicated there may be threats but did not identify anything specific, while other officials believed it would be inaccurate to state that there were no known specific threats to the Joint Session based on those same USCP intelligence products.
Providing additional training to personnel on how to better understand and interpret intelligence assessments and requiring that any threat analyses included in operational planning are coordinated with Department entities with intelligence analysis and dissemination responsibilities would improve USCP ability to achieve a consensus on its threat analyses.
Based on our follow-up analysis, a condition identified in two previous reports, the Department’s failure to update and document evaluations of its intelligence priorities reemerged. We also identified intelligence related deficiencies with the Department’s organizational structure, training, professional standards, internal controls, and capability to effectively collect, process, and disseminate intelligence information.