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Planned in Plain Sight: A Review of the Intelligence Failures in Advance of January 6th, 2021

“U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI), Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released a new report detailing the results of his investigation examining intelligence failures by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) in the lead-up to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The report found that FBI and I&A received numerous tips and were aware of significant online posts threatening violence at the Capitol, yet they failed to accurately assess this intelligence and share the information with law enforcement partners. Peters’ investigation found that these missteps contributed to the security planning failures that left frontline officers unprepared for the violent mob that breached the Capitol and disrupted the peaceful transfer of power. The findings build on a bipartisan investigation and report Peters led in 2021 detailing security, planning and response failures related to the attack. The report released by Peters today addresses previously unanswered questions about how the FBI and I&A severely misjudged the threat level. “Despite the high volume of tips and online traffic about the potential for violence – some of which the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Office of Intelligence and Analysis were aware of as early as December 2020 – these agencies failed to sound the alarm and share critical intelligence information that could have helped law enforcement better prepare for the events of January 6, 2021,” said Senator Peters…”

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