Former police chief warns Capitol still not secure after Jan. 6
Right: Steven Sund is sworn in before a Senate hearing in 2021. Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP
Steven Sund — who was Capitol Police chief during the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol siege, and resigned shortly after — warns in a book out Tuesday that many of the building's vulnerabilities remain unfixed.
Why it matters: Sund alleges in "Courage Under Fire" that the federal government's shortcomings, including its failure to act on its own alerts about a right-wing attack on the Capitol, allowed the assault to occur.
- He also alleges that senior military leaders' delay in sending help to the Capitol prolonged the attack.
What he's saying: "Almost two years after the events of Jan. 6, the department is not in a better place or on a readier footing," Sund writes in an excerpt of the book reported by the Washington Post.
- "Hundreds of officers have left the department since Jan. 6 and many feel it is only going to get worse."
On Jan. 6, 2021 Sund had been chief of the Capitol Police for about 18 months, per the Post.
- He writes that he holds himself — and many others — responsible for what happened during the attack on the Capitol, but that the ultimate goal of his book is to answer a key question about the insurrection: “Why were we so unprepared?”
Go deeper: All the transcripts the Jan. 6 committee has released so far