WASHINGTON, D.C. — Wednesday’s attack on Capitol Hill was the building’s most significant security breach in modern history.
At least five people are dead, including a Capitol Police officer, parts of the Capitol were destroyed, and over 50 cops were injured.
Northeast Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan (D, 13th Congressional District), who chairs the subcommittee that funds U.S. Capitol Police, said it was an “epic fail,” especially because he was told by the police chief and Sergeants-At-Arms ahead of time that every precaution was being taken.
“I think the big question, really, is with regard to backup and manpower and why that wasn’t in place and ready,” Ryan said in a virtual interview on Thursday.
Ryan and the House Appropriations Committee will hold hearings and investigate, as will Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who’s the top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee. He said in a statement, “It is our duty…to examine the security failures that led to Wednesday’s attack.”
Columbus-area Republican Steve Stivers, who in addition to representing Ohio’s 15th District in Congress is also a major general in the Ohio Amy National Guard, said it was clear law enforcement didn’t have enough of a reserve or advanced planning, especially for a chaotic event that was over in just a few hours.
“It would’ve been hard logistically to call up enough of the National Guard to make a difference, but we sometimes for national security events, like an inauguration, call up the National Guard ahead of time,” Stivers said in a virtual interview on Thursday. “And the real question is should that have been done ahead of time? Not maybe as a response, because the response time would’ve been too long, but should this have been anticipated? That’s probably the thing that we need to ask ourselves as policymakers.”
The chaos that unfolded has also led some Ohio lawmakers to question why the law enforcement response wasn’t stronger, like what was seen last summer during the Black Lives Matter protests.
Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (D, 3rd Congressional District), who was pepper sprayed at a Columbus protest last year and now chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, said police were “grossly unprepared” for Wednesday.
“We have photos — know what it was like when Black Lives Matter said they were coming to the Capitol,” Beatty said in a phone interview on Thursday. “There are hundreds and hundreds of police officers in militarized garb standing on the Capitol steps. So to not have that same protection…it was almost like those who came had as much ammunition as our police force had.”
Fellow Ohio Democrats Ryan and Sen. Sherrod Brown agreed.
“Being candid, if there were Black people out there, I think there would’ve been a much different response,” Ryan said.
“They should’ve been met with comparable force to what happened with Black Lives Matter when they show up for peaceful protests, and they weren’t,” Brown said in a virtual interview on Friday.
The chief of Capitol Police, House Sergeant-At-Arms, and Senate Sergeant-At-Arms are resigning in wake of the attack.