The inspector general’s indictment of the Civil Disturbance Unit, or CDU, is the centerpiece of a scathing report.
The Capitol Police unit tasked with containing violent protests is so disorganized and outdated that officers “actively find ways to circumvent getting assigned there,” according to an internal review of the department’s failures ahead of the Jan.6 attack on Congress. And little has been done since the insurrection to reform the so-called Civil Disturbance Unit, Inspector General Michael Bolton found. The unit’s procedures — deemed outdated by internal audits as far back as July 2020 — remained unchanged as of March. A planned training for the unit alongside the Secret Service “has not materialized,” according to a congressional memo describing Bolton’s findings. Bolton’s indictment of the Civil Disturbance Unit, or CDU, is the centerpiece of a scathing report that’s set to be the focus of a highly anticipated House hearing on Thursday. The watchdog’s inquiry found a tangle of outdated, ignored and conflicting policies that allowed the Jan.6 riot to spiral out of control, and lawmakers are likely to question Bolton on potential sweeping reforms of Capitol security that could remake the department. His report lands on the Hill as the Capitol Police are facing their most intense trauma in recent history — with officers increasingly strained by understaffing and the repercussions of Jan.6 as well as a violent vehicle attack on a Capitol checkpoint that left one officer dead earlier this month. That officer, Billy Evans, laid in honor in the Capitol rotunda on Tuesday. The inspector general found that the Capitol Police’s failures also extended to the department’s intelligence reporting, which Bolton said buried alarming information about threats facing the Capitol while highlighting language that minimized concerns. But dysfunction within the Civil Disturbance Unit hung over his conclusions, many of which were first reported last week by CNN. “CDU was operating at a decreased level of readiness,” Bolton concluded, “as a result of a lack of standards for equipment, deficiencies noted from the events of January 6, 2021, a lapse in certain certifications, an inaccurate CDU roster, staffing concerns for the unit, quarterly audits that were not performed, and property inventories not in compliance with guidance.
