Taking to protect the capitol on march 4th from any more violent extremists. Thank you. Okay. Well have you talk to him about that later. Senator warner has arrived via video. I also just want to mention that senator pieters will work with our witnesses for a break and the like. We dont to want take a long break, but i imagine you could use a break somewhere in here. Senator warner . Thank you, madam chairman, and thank you to the witnesses for appearing today. You know, weve talked a little about the deployment or lack of deployment of the national g guard, and one of the questions, i guess, mr. Sund, or chief contee, the fact that we the district did not have the ability to bring the guard to the table because of, frankly, mayor bowser is not treated in a totally fair fashion in this, this may be outside your lane, but her inability to bring the guard to the table, or actually any of you on the panel can answer this, that to me is a reflection of the disempowerment of the district. On a Going Forward basis, in terms of at least being able to deploy the guard, shouldnt the mayor have the ability to do that aside from all the things we have to go through in terms of a checklist . Yes, i absolutely agree with that. Does anybody else want to answer that question as well . Yes, sir, im happy to add in. We have an established process for the Capitol Police to make the request through the Capitol Police board. That is also equally as effective. Again, i feel like the longterm discrimination against the district that weve seen in some of the covert legislation where they did not receive the same kind of level of support that other states did, we saw it play out in realtime on january 6th. Being a hurdle of the previous administration, i have concerns that the deployment of the guard was actually slowed down. I hope that we in the congress will support the statehood, i would like to see that move forward, but also making sure the mayor has appropriate powers Going Forward. I know there were some questions already raised about the fbi and whether the intel that came out of the norfolk fbi office was ever fully relayed to all of you individuals. But can you talk more generally about the fbis responsiveness, sharing of intelligence . I had a number of conversations. I called director wray on monday the 4th, trying to express concerns that there might be this kind of activity. I never expected this level of violence. I had a number of conversations with senior fbi leadership on the 5th through the 6th. I dont think i could have been fully informed of what would come to pass, but i think the fbi felt they were in better shape in terms of intel and preparation than what came to be the case, and i would like for you to comment on how well you felt the fbi did in terms of sharing intelligence and then coordinating when the actual activities of the 6th played out. Ill go ahead do you want me to address that first . Yeah. I mean, i cant see where you all are, so every one of you can take a crack at that. Ill go ahead and start first. I think the relationship we have with the fbi is outstanding. I think in my time with metropolitan and my time here, weve seen nothing but the relationship get better. The construct that we have thats very similar to some of the other major cities is having the joint Terrorism Task force, being involved with that. The information were getting in is good. I think the process and having, like i said earlier, the wider lens of what information is being collected, maybe looking at the agencies that are consumers of their information and what their intelligence requirements are is something we need to look at. But i think getting that information in and then having it processed and pushed forward in an effective manner is something we need to look at. I would say on the 6th when this started happening, you know, immediately the fbi as being a partner of ours established a process where, with Capitol Police and fbi police, we can begin to analyze video footage, analyze other evidence to going out and making arrests of the individuals that created the insurrection of the capitol. Ill go next. Did we get enough intel beforehand . If we could get the balance of the panel to respond. I would echo on what the chief just mentioned. Weve had a great working relationship with the fbi. I think its a whole of intelligence approach, not specifically just the fbi when we have something as significant as what occurred here at the u. S. Capitol. If there is information specific information out there that our government is responding to, i would think that something of that nature the would rise to the level of more than just an email sent to Law Enforcement agencies. That should be a larger, more involved conversation about specifics, not just some of the unvetted law information thats out there. We see some of that, but i think its a whole approach. Thank you. I dont know if any of the other Panel Members want to add any comment on that. Let me just say that this is my concern is that in virginia, weve seen these kind of antigovernment extremists take to the streets of charlottesville in 2017, resulting in the death of heather heier. We see the same kind of groups come to the forefront on january 6th. I think this is an ongoing threat to National Security. I fear at times that while the fbi and others have pointed this out that it didnt get the level of serious review that it should have. With the prior administration, i felt at times they did not want to take the information that was coming out of the fbi. Im hoping on a Going Forward basis well be able to be more coordinated in terms of taking on antigovernment extremism, whether it comes from the left or the right. This is a real ongoing threat. I can tell you for our Intelligence Committee, weve seen that many of these groups have connections and ties to antigovernment extremist groups in europe where theyve taken a great precedent. I know my time has expired, madam chairman, but this is something we need more work on. Thank you for holding this hearing. Thank you very much, senator warner. We look to working with you and the Intelligence Committee on this. Next will be senator lankford and after that senator carper. Thank you. Mr. Sund, i want to try to evaluate something. There is a letter in the Public Domain at this point thats an eightpage letter that was written to Speaker Pelosi that is attributed to you to try to explain the events of that day. Are you familiar with that letter in the Public Domain and is it accurate . Yes, liit is, sir. In the letter itself you describe several things in this, the details and the time on it. Can you tell us why you wrote this letter to Speaker Pelosi . What was the purpose of the letter . I feel at the time i resigned. I had limited communications with my department. I know my department was getting ready to go and testify at some of the initial committee hearings, and i think she had called for my resignation without full understanding of what we had prepared for, what we had gone through. I think she deserved to read firsthand what we had prepared for and what i dealt with for the 6th. You talked several times about thousands of coordinated, wellequipped rioters. You said at 12 52 a pipe bomb had been located at the committee headquarters. How was that located . Who found it and what was the particular moment it was found . I dont know that it was a particular moment it was found. I believe it was an employee at the Republican National committee that had located it in the rear of the building that called it in to Capitol Police headquarters. You said you thought there were several out there that would take out resources at that exact moment. Im glad they did find it. They found another one at the democratic headquarters as well. You had to assign several individuals to go to the rnc and dnc to deal with those explosives that were planted there, is that correct . That is correct, and just for your information, the rnc pipe bomb, that was run by Capitol Police. The d. C. Metropolitan ended up taking that so we could run two concurrently. The Cannon House Office building as well as one of the library of congress buildings. So the assault of the capitol is not what caused the evacuation of those buildings, the discovery of the pipe bombs is what caused evacuation of those buildings . That is correct, sir. There are quite a few members here that talked about the National Guard and the length of time it took to go through the bureaucratic process to be deployed. It seems to be a misunderstanding on this dias with some individuals describing the National Guard as if they are the riot police that can be automatically called. Did you expect it to be a Rapid Response s. W. A. T. Team at this point . Whats the typical response of the National Guard to call them out when theyre not currently positioned . I believe the typical response when theyre called is approximately two hours. But the deployment of them would have to be started two days ahead . Thats right. My initial request was over to mr. Irving. It was actually an inperson request on the 4th, and it wasnt until the evening of the 4th that i talked to general walker, that he informed me that if needed, because mr. Stenger wanted me to look forward and they could 125. But those 125 individuals from the National Guard that were prepared to be able to move faster because they were in streets and other places doing traffic duty at that point, you had already been informed that the city of washington, d. C. And the Mayors Office had made a request of d. O. D. And d. O. D. Approved it, that none of them would be armed, none of them would have heavy gear on. There would be no military vehicles available to them, they had to use unmarked vans and other government vans, and there would be no helicopters used. Those were prohibited that day for the 125 individuals that were already on the street, is that correct . No, at the time i did not know that was the restrictions being placed on them. And two, when i talked to general walker, the 125 he was giving us was those assigned to covid. So they had no weapons, no military vehicles to move, no overhead visual on anything . That had all been requested no from the city of washington, d. C. , and then for the other individuals, that could be a sign to use rapid force. Those were the folks currently doing covid duty, so you had no s. W. A. T. Team . This description is very interesting to me around this dias that people suddenly think the National Guard bursts in and theyre ready to go. That is not what the National Guard is prepositioned to do. Thats correct. Any time weve requested the National Guard, it has been in an unarmed fashion. I was looking for them to help support the perimeter we had established. Weve talked to some officers here and there has obviously been conversation around this dias as well about rules of training and authorization. There wasnt training for what to do if a mass group actually comes through the door and tries to burst through, whether its an insurrection type of event, whether its just a mob thats gone crazy and maybe protesting gets out of hand to be able to burst through the door. There was no clarity for the officers inside the building on their rules of engagement once they actually came to the building . My impression is they had to make it up on their own, and they determined whtheir stand would be where the members were located and they would use force. I have a couple questions on that. I know hindsight is 20 20, is there a need of a much greater capability at the time or with officers at the time if they had less capabilities, and what to do if you have a group of individuals coming into the building unauthorized. Just for clarification, we do train for people trying to get into the building. We dont train for an insurrection of thousands of people. They do have some capability they carry with them. I think there should be additional training, additional equipment to consider this type of attack in the future. The challenge is we all watched this summer, in fact, this committee on Homeland Security had a hearing on assaults at a federal courthouse in portland and went through assault for a month. Individuals attacked that courthouse day after day after day after day. Some of those techniques were used by individuals in here, some of the techniques to find a way to be able to attack officers. So the challenge is that we saw that this was rising, i guess, that people were watching on tv, people attacking a federal institution all summer long. It is a followup were going to have to do in the days ahead about how to get less than lethal capability and find ways to be able to stop any kind of assault of a number of individuals to be able to come on the capitol. I appreciate your sfrs. I appreciate very much the officers that continue to be able to serve because theyve not had a gap, theyve not had a break since that time period. I know you still interact with them, at least i hope you do, and i would encourage for you to pass on from us our gratitude, and were all looking at this as a hind side 20 20 saying, why couldnt you read the tea leaves from the scrap of intel that came in the night before. Lets find the lessons we can learn. Thank you very much, sir. I know they appreciate your support as well as the support of congress. Theyre a hell of a police agency. Thank you for your patience, senator carper. Chief contee is a former officer in the state of delaware. I recall instances on which i call on the delaware National Guard for emergencies like ice storms, drought, you name it. I know the importance of the value of work that our officers have done for decades and other states around the country. As we have learned in contrast to every other states National Guard, the d. C. National guard operates differently. Im convinced if someone had been able to activate the d. C. National guard and had 1,000 or 2,000 guardsmen deployed at the capitol in a timely way on the 6th of january, that level of destruction would not have occurred. Unlike the 50 states that we have, the District Of Columbia not empowered to activate the d. C. National guard during an emergency. Thats one of the reasons ive worked for years with congresswoman to support the National Guard washington, d. C. Next question, chief contee, in your testimony you highlight a request for d. C. National guard assistance at the d. C. Capitol on january 6 would have had to have been made by the u. S. Capitol police with the consent of the u. S. Department of defense. Would you take a minute to explain that process and why mayor bowser is not able to request d. C. National guard assistance when federal property as well as human lives are threatened in the district that she leads . Please go ahead. Thank you for the question. So the mayor does not have full authority over the National Guard to include their activation or deployment. When the mayor makes a request to the District Of Columbia, we send that to the federal government. Ultimately the secretary of the army who sees that request, there is a whole approval process that that request has to go through in order for National Guard resources to be deployed from the District Of Columbia. Unlike governors, and without going through approval processes and receiving approval from the highest level of the federal government, that just does not have to take place in other states. A real hindrance to us in terms of response and the ability to call them up. Thanks for that response. Would you take a minute to share with us your thoughts and whether having d. C. National guard under the command of the mayor or even a governor of a neighboring state might help the d. C. Metropolitan police in coordinating with federal authorities to better protect the city and citizens . And along with federal installations not unlike the one we experienced on january 6th. Yes, i think we certainly should. We knew even on that day, january the 6th, prior to any movement of the National Guard from the assignments they had been given, the traffic post, again, that required approval at the highest levels of the federal government to include the secretary of the army and the secretary of defense in order to just move the national bar or change admission, in essence. I think that should certainly be something that falls on the mayors authority. Mr. Sund, in your testimony you state that the events of january 6 were not the results of poor planning on behalf of the Capitol Police, but rather a lack of intelligence that would have allowed that would have allowed the let me start over. A lack of intelligence that would have allowed the Capitol Police to properly prepare. As i was looking through mr. Stengers testimony, he says, quote, the sharing of information and resources is paramount for success. Thats his quote. I strongly agree with that statement. Mr. Sund, what went wrong leading up to january 6th as far as gathering and sharing actual intelligence. Why do you think the likelihood of a truly devastating attack was so easy to underestimate. I think when you hear from some of the agencies with investigations currently going on, where they find evidence this was a coordinated attack that had been coordinated with numerous states for some time in advance of this, thats the information that would have been ekts Tropical Storm herminely helpful for this. For them to make an indica