Ex-Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, who was in charge during the January 6, 2021 coup attempt, has written in an upcoming book that the former agency was “not in a better place or better prepared” after the deadly incident. Capitol riots.
The Washington Post’s Carol Leonnig described excerpts from Sund’s book, “Courage Under Fire,” on Sunday, including recollections of tense phone calls with Pentagon leaders and details of failures inside and outside his own agency.
Sund said the “biggest intelligence failure” happened within the US Capitol Police itself.
“Nearly two years after the events of January 6, the department is not in a better place or better prepared,” wrote Sund, who resigned a day after the riots after pressure from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
“Many people in the department feel there is a viable plan to move the agency to a better position,” Sund wrote. “Hundreds of officers have left the department since Jan. 6 and many feel it will only get worse.”
Sund expressed concern about the former agency’s command structure, calling it a “recipe for disaster,” according to the Post. He suggested that the agency’s future leaders should be allowed to implement their own security plans, rather than going through a board that includes Senate sergeants-at-arms and Capitol architects.
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Sund also wrote in his book that many factors that made the Capitol vulnerable on January 6 “remain unfixed,” citing several failures during the day’s events.
He cited military leaders’ delay in sending National Guard reinforcements to the Capitol, the failure of post-9/11 security measures, and allegations that the Pentagon sent security personnel to the homes of military officials on days of unrest.
“We have failed miserably to see the warning and warning signs, like the ‘gray rhinoceros,’ charging us,” wrote Sund, who said various security agencies — including the Capitol police, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security – didn’t warn him about the warning signs before January 6th.
“Courage Under Fire” is scheduled to be published Tuesday.