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USCP Response to OIG Report

April 14, 2021

The United States Capitol Police welcomes the USCP Office of Inspector General's (OIG) review and its recommendations. The Department understands and supports the evaluation of the events of January 6 and implementing changes to improve its operational readiness and the physical security infrastructure of the Capitol Complex.

In the immediate aftermath of January 6, the Department took significant steps to address concerns identified in the OIG's most recent report. For example, the Department has created a streamlined, comprehensive intelligence sharing process so that the information the Department receives from its intelligence partners is presented to its workforce in a consistent and coherent manner. The Department has made and continues to make substantial procedural and technological changes to the way it disseminates intelligence to all sworn personnel.

Before January 6, the Department was working diligently to replace aging equipment, though these efforts were stymied by manufacturing and shipping constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Though the Department has made progress in certain areas, it acknowledges much additional work needs to be done.

For example, as it pertains to intelligence, multiple reviews have indicated the need for increased staffing in the Department's Intelligence and Interagency Coordination Division. In its second Flash Report, the OIG suggested USCP restructure the Department to create an entirely new bureau dedicated solely to intelligence capabilities.

The Department further acknowledges the importance of developing more comprehensive Civil Disturbance Unit (CDU) policies, ensuring CDU training and certifications for all CDU personnel are up-to-date, and providing more CDU personnel with the necessary training and certifications to operate the Department's less-lethal munitions as recommended by the OIG. The Department has secured specialized training for CDU officials and, in 2020, it significantly increased the number of CDU personnel trained and certified to use certain chemical munitions. The Department is working to obtain additional training for CDU personnel as a whole. The Department also is considering recommendations from other reviews concerning its CDU capabilities, such as the review conducted by Task Force 1-6 led by Lieutenant General Russel L. Honoré, which recommended that the USCP develop a dedicated CDU force with its own training personnel.

The Department fully agrees with many of the recommendations it has received from the OIG and Task Force 1-6 to date. It is important to note that nearly all of the recommendations require significant resources the Department does not have.

January 6 was a pivotal moment in USCP, U.S. and world history that demonstrated the need for major changes to the way USCP operates. The Department stands eager and willing to work with its Congressional stakeholders to implement critical security enhancements.