The U.S. Government Accountability Office will open an investigation into the security failures on Jan. 6 that led to the deadly riot at the Capitol.
The agency will look at the matter after being requested to do so by lawmakers, who blamed the lack of security for “the overrun of government offices by terrorists.”
“Our work will primarily focus on the extent of coordination between federal and local entities for security and emergency support,” said Orice Brown, managing director of GAO’s Office of Congressional Relations.
Charles Johnson Jr., the managing director of the agency’s Homeland Security and Justice team, will be in charge of the investigation and will begin work shortly, Brown said.
GAO will not investigate the specific actions of individual members of Congress to avoid overlap with other government investigations.
The Jan. 6 riot resulted in the deaths of five people, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer, after a rally held by former President Donald Trump that aimed to protest the congressional certification of President Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
The events resulted in Trump’s second impeachment, led by the Democratic-controlled House. A trial in the Senate is pending, though Trump left office on Wednesday. The former president was impeached on a charge of “incitement of insurrection.”
