Despite Expecting Violence on Jan. 6, DHS Analysts Stayed Silent

A new report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General found that, despite measures the agency planned to take for their own safety, and abundant evidence that January 6 was a powder keg waiting to blow, the Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A), responsible for warning the rest of the government about dangerous events, decided to keep its concerns to itself as intelligence officials joked about Democrats being hanged, murdering protesters, and dying in a blaze of glory, reports The Intercept.

As early as December 21, 2020, according to the report, I&A officials internally circulated information about an individual describing plans to kill protesters by the dozens; calls to bring weapons to Washington, D.C.; an increase in weapons brandished by individuals already in the capital; and threats of violence against “ideological adversaries,” law enforcement agents, and government officials. None of that information made it outside the office prior to January 6. The inspector general pointed to two core explanations for I&A’s inaction: a rushed hiring push in 2019 that put inexperienced and untrained officials on the job and public backlash following the office’s targeting of journalists covering the George Floyd protests in 2020. Brian Murphy, the head of I&A at the time, also filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that the two top officials at DHS pressured his analysts to downplay intelligence involving threats from the far right and to amplify intelligence supporting the president’s reelection messaging on the dangerousness of left-wing agitators.