米議会襲撃、治安・情報機関の弱点浮き彫りに　公聴会

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】米国で1月6日に起きた連邦議会襲撃事件で、州兵への出動要請が遅すぎるなど、治安・情報機関の致命的な弱点が浮き彫りになった。上院公聴会で23日、治安当局者が報告した。（写真はスティーブン・サンド議会警察＜USCP＞前長官）
　報告によると、最も深刻な過失は、連邦捜査局（ＦＢＩ）が事件前日、過激派グループが「臨戦態勢で」首都ワシントンに乗り込んでいると警告する文書を送ったが、米議会警察（ＵＳＣＰ）幹部には届かなかったというものだ。
　また、議会の状況悪化が明らかだったにもかかわらず、軍当局は部隊の派遣に「消極的」だったとも報告された。
　南北戦争以来最悪の内乱とされる議会襲撃をめぐる公聴会は２３日が初日で、報告は４時間にわたった。
　警察幹部らは、情報不足と対応における連携の欠如が原因で不意を打たれたと認めた。また、武装し組織化された暴徒に数で圧倒されたとも証言した。
　さらに、極右団体「プラウド・ボーイズ」などの過激派が１月６日にワシントンで問題を起こすと予告していたにもかかわらず、当局は大規模な暴動が起きる可能性について「ごくわずか」、「起こり得ない」と評価していたという。
　同事件の対応を問われ事件の数日後に辞任したＵＳＣＰ前長官のスティーブン・サンド氏は、「重武装した数千人もの暴徒が米連邦議会議事堂を組織的に襲撃することを示唆する情報は、ＦＢＩを含むどの機関も出していなかった」と述べ、議会警察は暴徒に対抗する準備が全くできていなかったと説明した。
　サンド氏は、ＦＢＩからの警告がＵＳＣＰに届いたが、「事件発生時、自分を含む議会警察幹部には知らされていなかった」と語った。
　議会襲撃では警官１人を含む５人が死亡。その後まもなく警官２人が自殺している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/02/25-12:27）

The deadly US Capitol riot on January 6 exposed devastating security and intelligence weaknesses, with military authorities reacting too slowly to calls for National Guard backup against an overwhelming mob, security officials told Congress Tuesday.
Among the most serious lapses revealed: the Federal Bureau of Investigation sent US Capitol Police a report on the eve of the unrest warning that extremists groups were coming to Washington ready for war, but the document did not reach USCP leadership.
And lawmakers also heard that military officials had been reluctant to send troops to defend Congress, even when it was clear conditions at the Capitol had deteriorated.
In the first congressional hearing on the attack, police chiefs and the House and Senate sergeants at arms acknowledged they were blindsided by lack of intelligence and response coordination to the worst domestic insurrection since the Civil War.
In compelling testimony they painted a picture of officers badly outnumbered by armed and coordinated insurgents.
They pointed to a series of intelligence shortcomings about the threat level, including assessments of remote and improbable chances of major violence on January 6, even though extremist groups like the Proud Boys made clear they were coming to Washington that day to stir up trouble.
No entity, including the FBI, provided any intelligence indicating that there would be a coordinated violent attack on the United States Capitol by thousands of well-equipped armed insurrectionists, a situation that left his officers woefully unprepared against a violent mob, said the US Capitol Police's then-chief Steven Sund.
Later in the four-hour joint hearing before the Senate homeland security and rules committees, however, Sund said the USCP did get the FBI report warning of violence, but no leadership, myself included, over at Capitol Police was made aware of that at the time of the event.
That's very concerning, Senator Jeff Merkley told Sund during questioning.
Sund resigned his post days after the riot, which left five dead including one police officer and four other people. Two other police officers died by suicide shortly afterwards.
House sergeant-at-arms Paul Irving and Senate sergeant-at-arms Michael Stenger also resigned.
Irving testified that the intelligence was not that there would be a coordinated assault on the Capitol, nor was that contemplated in any of the inter-agency discussions that I attended in the days before the attack.
- 'Worst of the worst' -
The unprecedented breach of the citadel of American democracy occurred on January 6 after then-president Donald Trump whipped up a crowd of his supporters, urging them to march on Congress and fight like hell.
The riot, fuelled by Trump's repeated false claims that the election was rigged, appeared aimed at blocking the certification of Joe Biden as winner of the November 3 vote.
Washington's acting police chief Robert Contee said his officers were literally fighting for their lives on Capitol Hill.
But he was stunned at the response by the Department of the Army, which he said was reluctant to send National Guard troops to protect the Capitol.
Officials participating in the hearing agreed that a thorough review of intelligence sharing operations and internal processes is needed to determine reforms to be made in order to prevent any new attacks.
And Senate Rules Committee chairwoman Amy Klobuchar, noting the intelligence breakdown regarding the FBI report, announced that a new hearing would be convened next week with testimony from officials at the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon.
Senate Homeland Security Committee chairman Gary Peters described January 6 as one of our nation's darkest days, and said the security problems at the Capitol marked a systemic and leadership failure that must be addressed.
Lawmakers heard a gripping account of the unrest by Capitol Police Captain Carneysha Mendoza, including how she helped keep a group of rioters at bay as they forced their way into the building.
This was by far the worst of the worst, Mendoza said, noting how rioters deployed military grade tear gas in the Rotunda as they fought with police.
We could have had 10 times the amount of people working with us, and I still believe the battle would have been just as devastating, she said.