The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation both decided not to complete formal threat assessments prior to the violent riot at the Capitol last week, National Public Radio reports.
NPR notes that the New York Police Department sent the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI a packet containing raw intelligence indicating a high likelihood of violence at the Capitol on the day that Congress met to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election. The NYPD assumed that this information would be included in an FBI joint intelligence bulletin and a DHS threat assessment, which are routinely completed before a well known, large-scale event takes place.
However, the DHS and the FBI both declined to produce formal reports on the threat posed by President Donald Trump’s supporters, who went on to storm the Capitol in an incident that left multiple people dead.
A spokesperson from the DHS’ Office of Intelligence and Analysis told NPR that the agency didn’t produce a formal threat assessment, but it did release a report concerning the "heightened threat environment during the 2020-2021 election season, including the extent to which the political transition and political polarization are contributing to the mobilization of individuals to commit violence.”
Multiple law enforcement officials noted to NPR that the FBI and the DHS did produce formal intelligence reports about left-leaning political demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, many of which were mostly peaceful.
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