Capitol police chief calls for troops, permanent fencing around US Capitol

The Pelosi security task force is proposing intensive security measures that raise tensions among lawmakers who have been surrounded by National Guard troops, fencing, and razor wire for two months since the Capitol Hill riot.

A new security review of the Jan. 6. timeline found that the the United States Capitol Police is ill-equipped to deal with threats facing the Capitol building.

The recent report is the first detailed assessment addressing how to fix what went wrong when Trump supporters breached federal property and overran outnumbered Capitol police officers in early January.

The 15-page report was commissioned by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) who announced on Jan. 15 that she had tasked retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré with leading the investigation in the wake of the Washington attack. The review dated March 5 recommends that Capitol Police fill all open positions while increasing staffing and strengthening the force's own intelligence-gathering operations.

"The USCP were understaffed, insufficiently equipped, and inadequately trained to secure the Capitol and Members when violently attacked by a large mob," the analysis—released Monday—reads. The House and Senate will now have to consider which recommendations to adopt and how to fund those suggestions.

A closed-door briefing occurred Monday afternoon when Honoré and other former military leaders faced pointed questions from House legislators about the analysis. Republicans complained that the task force excluded input, a concern that was raised by GOP members in the room and later echoed by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA).

"This was not a bipartisan investigation, this was Nancy Pelosi's investigation," the California representative declared to CNN, claiming that Honoré's team just has "a lot of requests for money" and not "a comprehensive plan at all." Issa questioned the petition for an additive 900 Capitol Police officers and members of USCP's force when there were only 232 vacancies on the day of the riot.

The report recommended that Capitol Police ups its staffing by more than 850 positions, including packing more than 200 officer vacancies, adding an additional 350 officers, and hiring more than 400 positions to fill gaps such as intelligence specialists, operational planners, and Civil Disturbance Unit personnel. Honoré's findings determined that security across the House's 900 district offices was "inconsistent." The task force prompted funding for every congressional district office to be supplied with proper security systems, along with home security systems for members where warranted.

House Appropriations Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro told reporters after leaving the Monday briefing that there will likely be "substantial [security] investment" that Congress will have to make in light of Honoré's recommendations. The Connecticut Democrat did not suggest that she feels strongly about the proposal to have retractable fencing, telling journalists: "I want to continue to talk about that."

The report instructed an option of mobile fencing around the Capitol that is "easily erected and deconstructed," along with long-term, retractable fencing systems for the Capitol and congressional office buildings. The proposal acknowledges the opposition that's emerged against making the barriers permanent, bound to run into further local skepticism by closing the federal building off from the public.

"Obstacles do not prevent penetration by themselves, but serve to slow or canalize intruders," the memo advises, allowing security forces to focus response to specific sites as necessary. The solution "could enable an open campus while giving security forces better options to protect the complex" should the threat develop.

The acting Capitol Police chief, Yogananda Pittman, had implored via Jan. 28 press statement that "vast improvements to the physical security infrastructure must be made to include permanent fencing" as well as "the availability of ready, back-up forces in close proximity to the Capitol."

On Tuesday, the Capitol Police expressed gratitude for the force's partnership with Department of Defense and the "continued commitment" to support the shared "mission to protect Congress," acknowledging the National Guard's "critical role to the Department's enhanced security posture."

House Republicans are demanding answers from Pelosi on why fencing and National Guard members are still needed at this time. In the open letter sent Tuesday to Pelosi first obtained by Fox News, almost 20 House members want to know when the Capitol will demilitarize the area and return to normal operations.

The memo was organized by Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) who said that the fencing is "overkill" and believes that the theatrical security initiatives are enforced "for political reasons" and not safety as touted in the mainstream media.

Democrats want to send the public message that the Capitol needs to be safeguarded from the political right and the Republican Party, he voiced. "[T]here's nothing that could be further from the truth," Gimenez told Fox News. "This party is about law and law-abiding citizens."

Pelosi spokesperson Drew Hammill responded to Fox News late Tuesday night: "The Speaker expects security professionals to make the security decisions and continues to support the US Capitol Police's requests for the temporary fencing and support from the National Guard. We don't need any lectures on security from House Republicans who fanned the flames of these insurrectionists and overwhelmingly voted to overturn the election result."

The task force also took aim at the multiple communication failures, concluding that the Capitol Police was not postured to handle intelligence threats "due to significant capacity shortfalls, inadequate training, immature processes, and an operating culture that is not intelligence-driven."

The recommendations included an increase of trained intelligence analysts, more integration of intelligence functions into Capitol Police leadership day-to-day operations and planning, and "a dramatic, consistent, leader-driven shift in the USCP's cultural mindset toward threat-based operations and decision-making."

The report deduced that the Capitol Police Board's (CPB) "deliberate decision-making process proved too slow and cumbersome" to respond to the crisis on Jan. 6, championing changes to how external law enforcement support is requested.

The Capitol Police via Monday press release asserted that enhancements to the Capitol complex's physical infrastructure are required, also agreeing to the beefing up in manpower and overall response capabilities. "The department will continue to work with our congressional stakeholders and law enforcement partners as we strengthen our security measures at the Capitol," the police force vowed.

Last month, Fox News host Tucker Carlson had slammed Pelosi's pick to be the Capitol riot investigator. The iconic anchor revealed Honoré as divisive, a man who appeared to have made his determinations before the probe was completed.

On the day after the siege, Honoré suggested that the event was an inside job and that the sergeant-in-arms might be implicated in the plot, Carlson reported. The clips Carlson showed, of Honoré expressing his views on news segments, demonstrated how the tapped official believed at the time that the Capitol Police personnel were "complicit" in the criminal activity as fellow "Trumpsters."

"These are sworn police officers. They're doing their job, but General Honoré decided to attack them on the basis of speculation about their political beliefs," Carlson said on-air. "And that problem goes beyond General Honoré prejudging what happened at the Capitol on the base of no knowledge. Like so many of our country's ex generals, this guy's an authoritarian and an unhinged one."