Remembering January 6: the 5th Anniversary

January 6, 2025

Chief J. Thomas Manger U.S. Capitol Police (Retired)

Thomas Manger, Chief of Police for the United States Capitol Police (retired) is our guest contributor this week. Chief Manger is a law-enforcement leader with more than 40 years of experience. He served as the Chief of the U.S. Capitol Police from July 2021 to June 2025.

The events of January 6, 2021, were a “wake up” call for the United States Capitol Police Department (USCP) and the Capitol Police Board. The agency responsible for protecting the Capitol, protecting the Members of Congress, and protecting the legislative process was overwhelmed for several hours by thousands of demonstrators who unlawfully entered the Capitol Building. It resulted in an evacuation of the Capitol Building, and a delay in the Electoral College vote count.

As one might imagine, this kind of disruption to the legislative process was thoroughly reviewed and resulted in over a dozen after action reports outlining what went wrong on that day. The Reports, done by several Congressional Committees, the Government Accountability Office, as well as the Inspector General for the Capitol Police put forward over 100 recommendations for changes and improvements to ensure that the Department would be better prepared in the future and that nothing like this kind of disruption would ever happen again.

Over the next four years, the USCP not only resolved and implemented every recommendation for improvement, but they restored a sense of safety and security to the Members of Congress, congressional staff as well as the millions of visitors who come to the Capitol grounds each year.

Congressional leaders recognized that the USCP needed additional staffing, new equipment, and better training. Recommendations for the creation of a robust Intelligence Services Bureau, and a signiﬁcant expansion of the Threat Assessment Section resulted in a world class Protective and Intelligence Operation. Over the past seven years, the Department has had to keep pace with an increasing number of threats against the Members of Congress, over 10,000 threats in 2025. The USCP now fulﬁlls its nationwide responsibility for investigating threats against Congress with an enhanced combination of sworn Special Agents, intelligence analysts, and civilian criminal researchers. The Uniformed Division of Capitol Police officers not only ensures the safety of the entire Capitol Campus, but they respond quickly and effectively to any disruptions within seconds. They handle hundreds of demonstrations every year, ensuring people can exercise their 1^st Amendment rights, while ensuring those who break the law are removed quickly. The USCP’s new model for operational planning, deployment, and response strategies, as well as the use of mutual aid from other police agencies, have resulted in the effective handling of even the largest protests and attempted disruptions to congressional business.

Over the past five years, the USCP has been tested many times by large events, civil disobedience, and criminal activity in and around the campus. The USCP has risen to each challenge without fail.

On January 6, 2021, the after action reports outlined a number of failures. Planning failures, intelligence failures, equipment failures, and even some leadership failures. But to be clear, there is one thing that did not fail that day, and that was the courage and resolve of the USCP who fought to protect the Members of Congress. Not one Member was physically harmed, and, in fact, when order was restored, later that day, Congress returned to complete their legislative duty.

Today the USCP is a stronger, better staffed, better equipped, and better trained agency. The USCP is ready and prepared for any challenges that will come their way.