Yesterday’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol wasn’t just an attack on democracy, it was a scandalous failure of law enforcement.
How was it possible for a mob to just waltz into Congress despite the billions spent on “security” since 9/11?
How were the police so seemingly unprepared for an attack that was planned openly weeks in advance? Where was the massive show of force we’ve come to expect when police are confronted with nonviolent protests against racial injustice, war, and repression?
The Intercept has been investigating the links between law enforcement and far-right extremists for years, and last summer, our BlueLeaks reporting on a massive trove of internal law enforcement documents revealed shocking connections between police and white supremacist paramilitary groups.
Our team has already begun digging into yesterday’s catastrophic law enforcement failure — and the light it sheds on the rot and corruption in U.S. law enforcement. But this is a challenging reporting project that will include a wave of Freedom of Information Act requests, and we will likely have to go to court to get the documents we need to uncover the truth.
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Last June, hundreds of thousands of documents hacked from FBI and local police websites were leaked in an unprecedented disclosure known as BlueLeaks.
The stunning revelations included how law enforcement agencies ignored detailed reports of far-right extremists seeking to attack peaceful demonstrators and instead obsessed over hyped threats of “antifa” violence.
In August, we covered how police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, encouraged armed vigilantes like Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot and killed a protester, telling them, “We appreciate you guys. We really do.”
And in September, we reported on a 2006 intelligence assessment that revealed official evidence of white supremacist infiltration of police departments — evidence that the public was never warned about.
We must get to the bottom of why the most heavily policed city in the country was so utterly incapable of securing the U.S. Capitol from a far-right mob.
But we know we’ll face stiff resistance from law enforcement officials who will want to cover up anything embarrassing and keep the public in the dark. So we need to be prepared to go to court if necessary to get the documents we’re legally entitled to see — and that won’t be cheap or easy.
