January 6 Could Happen Again, Warns Former Capitol Police Chief

Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund is warning that the U.S. Capitol is still not safe from attack two years after the deadly January 6 riot.

Sund provided a first-hand account of his efforts to protect Congress and his officers from an armed mob of former president Donald Trump's supporters on January 6, 2021, in his new book, Courage Under Fire: Under Siege and Outnumbered 58 to 1 on January 6.

"It was such a tough book to write," Sund told Newsweek. "And I honestly do wish I never had to write it."

The Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and even the U.S. Capitol Police's intelligence unit had been alerted weeks prior to the attack that extremists were plotting to storm the Capitol—but failed to sound the alarm, Sund writes in the book, which Newsweek obtained an advance copy of ahead of its January 3 release.

"Eighteen intelligence agencies and not a single one conducted a duty to warn," he said, describing it as "a huge failure."

He added: "It makes me feel really, really sick to my stomach to think that they had that level of intelligence."

As Sund pleaded for assistance while his officers attempted to fend off the mob, he recalled how military officials delayed sending in the National Guard because of concerns about optics. "I do feel that the military allowed itself to become politicized," he said.

Two years on, Sund—who resigned the day after the attack shortly after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi publicly called for him to step down—is concerned that not enough has been done to protect the Capitol from a similar attack in the future.

"I'm very, very worried something like this could happen again, whether it's the Capitol, whether it's the White House...something like this could happen again if we don't correct the intelligence issues if we don't correct the security apparatus on the Hill," he said. "You talk to the office on the Hill, they'll tell you they do not feel any better off today than they were on January 6."

In a statement on Monday, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said the department has made a number of changes to ensure another attack doesn't happen, including hiring new experts in intelligence operations and providing specialized training and equipment for officers.

"Make no mistake, there is still work to be done. The current threat climate, particularly against elected officials, will require continued and heightened vigilance," Manger said. "With the polarized state of our nation, an attack like the one our Department endured on January 6, 2021, could be attempted again. Should the unthinkable happen, we will be ready."

It was law enforcement that "saved the day" and prevented the death toll on January 6, 2021, from being much higher, Sund said.

"When the National Guard wouldn't come to help us, it was law enforcement that came to my aid.

"They were sending the cavalry. If they hadn't done that, it would be a much worse situation. We very well could be looking at some dead members of Congress."

Several people died during and after the rampage, including a rioter who was shot inside the Capitol and a police officer.

Officers with the Metropolitan Police Department were able to get to the Capitol within minutes, Sund said.

"That kept us from having a large group of that mob and some of the most violent people from accessing and penetrating the Capitol much quicker," he said. "My concern is if they had, they would have trapped the members of Congress in the chambers much quicker and that would have been disastrous."

Manger's statement noted that Congress has passed legislation since the attack to ensure the chief of the Capitol Police can unilaterally declare an emergency and call on the National Guard without seeking approval from the Capitol Police Board.

"For me, this cumbersome process resulted in a painful seventy-minute delay at one of the most critical points in the battle," Sund writes in his book.

January 6 "could have been prevented," he told Newsweek, "if I had the intelligence and I had the ability in advance to bring in the resources I think were needed."

But there is cause for optimism, Sund added.

One reason is the officers who "were out there fighting as hard as they could to defend every inch of ground of that Capitol," he said. "Their sheer determination gives me a belief that with everything put in place, things can get better, and they can move forward."

People are also beginning to realize that Trump's actions on January 6 "definitely didn't rise to the level of the President," he said. "When he fired up that crowd, sent them down and released them on the Capitol, and then sat back in the White House and didn't send me assistance, didn't try and deescalate the situation. I think people look at that for what it was.

"As a nation, I get the impression we're trying to move forward in a better way to heal."