Capitol Police Hire Consultants To Study Jan. 6 Police Response

WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Capitol Police hired two former department leaders to serve as consultants in its review of how the department handled the Jan. 6 insurrection and what changes should be made in the wake of one of the biggest policing failures in the nation’s history.

Dan Nichols, former assistant chief of the Capitol Police, and Phil Morse, former chief of the Capitol Police, will help the department “continue on its current path to evolve post January 6,” the department said Tuesday.

The two officials led the U.S. Capitol Police through expansions, including after the 1998 fatal shootings at an entrance to the Capitol, the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and the 2001 anthrax attack. They also oversaw the successful merger of the Library of Congress Police into the Capitol Police.

“We believe this team’s institutional knowledge will build upon our current plan to improve our Department operations,” Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman said in a statement Tuesday. “At the same time, we will continue to move forward along our new path towards an intelligence-based protective agency.”

In 2007, Nichols was appointed the assistant chief of police and was responsible for security, investigations and protective services. He served in this leadership role until his retirement in 2011.

Morse was appointed chief of police in 2006 and assumed overall command of the department until his retirement in 2012. He was responsible for the overall strategic and executive management of the department.

ALSO READ: Sweeping Failures Around Jan. 6 Attack Detailed In Senate Report

U.S. Capitol Police leaders learned that supporters of now-former President Donald Trump were discussing ways to infiltrate tunnels around the complex and target Democratic members of Congress on Jan. 6 but failed to act on the threats, according to a new Senate report that concluded intelligence and security failures contributed to the attack.

The report also said that officers complained about a lack of leadership within the department as they tried to repel the attack, and that top leaders offered little help as officers pleaded for assistance.

The Senate report recommended an overhaul of the structure of the board overseeing the Capitol's security apparatus, with a specific provision to allow the Capitol Police chief to request National Guard assistance immediately.

Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick died a day after the insurrection after engaging with the pro-Trump rioters who descended on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Another Capitol police officer and a D.C. police officer who fought the Trump supporters to protect the Capitol on Jan. 6 took their own lives in the days after the insurrection.

More than 140 police officers were injured, some of them seriously, on Jan. 6 as they battled the Trump supporters at the Capitol.

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