Where Was The Security When A Mob Stormed The Capitol?

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Rioters climb the west wall of the the U.S. Capitol.





Jose Luis Magana/AP



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Jose Luis Magana/AP





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Pro-Trump extremists clash with police and security forces as they invade the Inauguration Day platform on Wednesday. Security forces were quickly overrun as the mob reached the Capitol.





Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images



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Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images




Pro-Trump extremists clash with police and security forces as they invade the Inauguration Day platform on Wednesday. Security forces were quickly overrun as the mob reached the Capitol.


Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images

In a video taken inside the Capitol, a lone policemen tries to hold back the mob with a baton. But he eventually retreats up the stairs until he finds additional colleagues, though they still remain outnumbered.

Here’s the scary moment when protesters initially got into the building from the first floor and made their way outside Senate chamber. pic.twitter.com/CfVIBsgywK

— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) January 6, 2021

A troubling precedent

Bowser’s approach to security was clearly influenced by events last summer when demonstrators took to the streets near the White House to protest the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and other police abuses.

At the time, President Trump called for a strong show of force including active-duty military personnel deployed on the streets of the nation’s capital. While Pentagon officials eventually talked Trump out of that demand, federal security forces were called in, including guards from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons who did not wear identifying name tags.

The response was widely seen as heavy handed, and included security forces driving out peaceful protesters to clear the way for a photo-op Trump wanted at a church near the White House. Bowser wanted to avoid a similar scenario this time, particularly by federal forces that do not answer to the D.C. city government.

The full contingent of the D.C. National Guard, about 1,100 strong, was not mobilized until after the immediate crisis had passed on Wednesday evening. They are being joined by Guard members and other law enforcement personnel from Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey.

D.C. is known for its fiefdoms of law enforcement agencies and that was reflected in the four agencies involved in security on Wednesday. The MPD has jurisdiction on city streets; the Park Police on the Ellipse, where Trump’s rally took place; the Secret Service in the vicinity of the White House; and the Capitol Police on the Capitol complex.

The coming weeks

Bowser imposed an overnight curfew and has declared a public emergency that extends for 15 days, through Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration on Jan. 20.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the gathering at Biden’s inauguration will be quite small and therefore place fewer demands on security personnel. Still, security officials are expected to err on the side of too much, rather than too little, security over the next two weeks.

Meanwhile, some in Congress are demanding an accounting of what took place Wednesday.

«There was not supposed to be anyone near the Capitol, said Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), who chairs a committee that oversees the Capitol Police. «Those were illegal acts, and those people should have been immediately arrested.

On August 24, 1814, the British stormed our Capitol and set fire to it.

Now the Capitol has again been breached and sieged.

Donald Trump incited this. He is responsible for this. And he is silent as this tragic moment continues.

— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) January 6, 2021

When the Senate resumed its session on Wednesday evening, New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker observed that the last time the Capitol had come under such an attack was when British forces set it on fire in 1814.

Greg Myre is an NPR national security correspondent. Follow him @gregmyre1.


Capitol breach