'Egregious' security failures mar attempts to catch the Jan. 6 pipe bomber, House report says

Federal law enforcement agencies responding to reports of two pipe bombs in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, were guilty of “egregious safety and security failures” for not securing the crime scenes and allowing the House speaker and vice president-elect to come within feet of one of the devices, a U.S. House of Representatives investigation concludes.

An interim joint report of the House Judiciary Committee and the Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight did not address some major topics, however, including how CCTV security cameras were turned away from one crime scene and whether the pipe bombs could have been planted on Jan. 6 — not Jan. 5, as the FBI has long maintained.

The report showed that the FBI amassed 105 million data points in the case — including on the gray-hooded person thought to have planted the bombs on Jan. 5 — yet has not identified the person or made any arrests four years later.

Just as the House report was released, the FBI published new information on the alleged pipe bomber, along with a slightly longer video showing an individual sitting on a bench near the Democratic National Committee building. The video is black and white with the same low frame rate as previous videos released by the FBI.

“The FBI and its law enforcement partners had interviewed approximately 1,000 individuals, visited more than 1,200 residences and businesses, assessed more than 500 tips, and collected more than 39,000 video files,” the report said. “Furthermore, as of April 2021, the FBI had compiled thirty different datasets from multiple sources, including hardware stores, shoe vendors, and cell carrier companies, and had collected over 105,000,000 data points.”

A motive has not been determined, but a major effect of the bombs was to occupy police at a critical time, the report said.

“The discovery of both pipe bombs, which had been laying outside for more than 16 hours, occurred within minutes of Congress’s vote to certify the 2020 presidential election and resulted in federal law enforcement diverting considerable resources away from the United States Capitol,” the report said. “As a result, while law enforcement responded to the pipe bombs, protesters breached security perimeters at the Capitol and entered the building.”

'Somebody’s not doing their job.'

The law enforcement miscues began hours before the bombs were discovered behind the Capitol Hill Club near the Republican National Committee building and on the side of the Democratic National Committee building, the report said.

“On January 6, 2021, the actions of federal law enforcement before, during, and after the discovery of the pipe bombs at the RNC and DNC constituted a series of egregious safety and security failures,” the report said.

The U.S. Secret Service failed to conduct a proper search of the DNC property, with agents and bomb-sniffing dogs operating in close proximity to the pipe bomb, which was in plain view under a park bench near the building, the report said.

This failure allowed Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ motorcade to enter the DNC garage just before 11:30 a.m., feet from the pipe bomb.

After discovery of the pipe bomb next to the Democratic National Committee building on Jan. 6, 2021, agents milled about near the bomb and pedestrians were allowed to walk right through the blast zone. U.S. Capitol Police CCTV

Failure to secure the scene and establish a safe perimeter later allowed the motorcade of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to pass near the DNC building after Pelosi was evacuated from the Capitol.

“After the discovery of the pipe bomb, law enforcement failed to immediately secure and maintain a perimeter around the pipe bomb located on a pedestrian walkway outside the DNC,” the report said. “As a result, civilians and law enforcement officers routinely breached the perimeter and came within close proximity — in some cases within feet — of the viable device.”

'More than ten different USSS agents and two canine units passed within close proximity of the pipe bomb.'

Federal law enforcement “risked the safety and security of protectees during the evacuation from the Capitol,” the report said. “Despite repeated attempts to notify law enforcement stationed along the perimeter, numerous civilians, law enforcement officers, congressional leadership, and even trains passed by the pipe bombs, needlessly risking human life.”

The Secret Service’s decision not to employ proper bomb-detection resources was in part to blame for failure to detect the bomb, the report said.

“The USSS’s failure to identify the pipe bomb outside the DNC prior to Vice President-elect Harris’s arrival constituted a serious security failure,” the report said. “Caused in part by the USSS’s decision to not utilize critical explosive detection capabilities, more than ten different USSS agents and two canine units passed within close proximity of the pipe bomb, yet failed to identify the device, resulting in Vice President-elect Harris passing within feet of the pipe bomb.”

According to federal law enforcement standards, the preferred evacuation distance from a pipe bomb is more than 1,200 feet.U.S. House of Representatives report

Secret Service personnel told investigators from the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General that “a USSS officer should have been stationed outside of the DNC throughout the morning. Without an officer posted along the sidewalks or streets, the DNC was ultimately unsecured, allowing pedestrians to pass by the unidentified pipe bomb throughout the morning.”

Frustration from the Capitol Police dispatcher was evident as dozens of pedestrians and vehicles were continually allowed to travel directly past the DNC pipe bomb, the report said.

“This is the last time I’m going to ask this request,” one dispatcher said. “We need the unit in front of the Fairchild [building] at South Capitol and E to go one block south. They are in line of sight of this package. Additionally, whoever is in that K-9 vehicle parked on the east curb of South Capitol needs to move ASAP. No more vehicles need to be responding north on South Capitol past the package.”

Similar failures occurred in maintaining a safe perimeter at the RNC, the report said.

“Sir, I have people walking down First Street right in front of the Republican Club,” a dispatcher broadcast at 1:25 p.m. “Somebody’s not doing their job.”

Diversion of resources

While the FBI has failed over four years to establish a solid motive for the pipe bomber, one major effect of the devices is clear, the report said. The discovery of the pipe bombs at 12:43 and 1:05 p.m. drew significant police resources away from the U.S. Capitol and helped enable the swarming of the Capitol grounds by protesters, the report said.

A civilian walks just feet from the U.S. Capitol Police bomb robot near the DNC on Jan. 6, 2021.U.S. House of Representatives

“The refusal of top FBI officials to acknowledge even the most self-evident aspects of the pipe bomb investigation nearly four years after they were planted is striking,” the report said. “The significance of the pipe bombs to how the events of January 6 unfolded cannot be overstated. The evidence suggests that the pipe bomber diverted significant law enforcement attention and resources away from the Capitol at the exact time they were needed most.”

The report questioned how the FBI could fail to crack the case after amassing huge datasets on possible suspects and persons of interest. It questioned how the bombs could have detonated on 60-minute egg timers.

“According to an FBI bomb technician who agreed to speak to committee staff on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, the FBI’s use of the term ‘viable’ is a deviation from the standard descriptions used by bomb technicians,” the report said.

“Traditionally, bomb technicians deliberately avoid using vague language, choosing instead to refer to a bomb as a ‘device’ if it would ‘function as designed’ or as a ‘hoax,’” the report said. “In the case of the pipe bombs, it is unclear why the FBI insists on using a vague, non-standard description.”

Former FBI Special Agent Kyle Seraphin, who worked on the pipe-bomb investigation, has told Blaze News the devices were not live bombs, based on a briefing his team received while doing surveillance work on the case.

The FBI developed lists of people who might have purchased the type of black powder found inside the pipe bombs, the report said. It tracked down lists of people who purchased similar egg timers. It probed lists of people who purchased Nike Air Max Speed Turf shoes like the ones worn by the suspected bomber.

Pedestrians and Secret Service agents mill about near the allegedly live pipe bomb near the DNC headquarters just 5 minutes after its discovery on Jan. 6, 2021.U.S. Capitol Police, U.S. House of Representatives

“Most notably, the FBI identified a person of interest who owned a pair of Nike Air Max Speed Turf sneakers and who worked ‘in the area of the crime.’ In response to this lead, the case team conducted a ‘deep dive’ into this person of interest in an effort to establish ‘independent corroboration’ of this individual’s whereabouts on January 5.”

The bureau received enhanced video of the suspect’s backpack, but despite contacting 18 possible manufacturers, “the FBI had received ‘no positive responses’ from any of the manufacturers,” the report said.

“Despite the FBI’s extensive efforts, including identifying hundreds of purchases and transactions of the suspect’s shoes, the FBI has yet to identify the suspect,” the report said.

Topics not covered

The report did not address how several of the Capitol Police CCTV security cameras that cover the DNC building were turned away from the scene on Jan. 6, preventing investigators from determining more fully who accessed the area around the park bench.

A CCTV camera that showed the nearby bomb-squad staging area suddenly turned away from that scene just as a Capitol Police bomb robot was dispatched to the DNC building, according to Blaze News review of video footage.

The report also didn’t deal with security video footage from DNC cameras that overlook the park bench area. That footage could have determined definitively who planted the DNC device: either the gray-hooded suspect or a federal officer who was seen entering a dead zone between cameras just after 12:50 p.m. on Jan. 6.

A senior congressional source told Blaze News that Homeland Security OIG investigators were able to view about 40 minutes of DNC security video from the night of Jan. 5, and they came away convinced that the sweatshirt-wearing individual placed the bomb.

Still, the blind spot in camera coverage and the turned-away CCTV cameras on Jan. 6 are troubling, the source said.

It’s not clear whether the investigation into the pipe bombs will continue in the 119th U.S. Congress that will be sworn in on Jan. 3.

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