Five months after the violent takeover of the U.S. Capitol, “a routine training exercise” will be held Monday morning by federal, state, and local agencies on the Capitol grounds.
The announcement Saturday on Twitter by the U.S. Capitol Police about the joint exercise cautioned, “Please do not be alarmed if you see emergency vehicles and low flying helicopters.” A message about the event from the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department added, “During this time, emergency vehicles and personnel may be seen moving around the grounds.”
The exercise will apparently be large enough—and loud enough—to merit being announced on Washington DC’s community alert notification system snd on neighborhood blogs across the city.
This is believed to be the first such exercise to be conducted on the Capitol grounds since the January 6 takeover of the government building. No information was provided about which agencies will participate in the exercise, how many people will be involved or the scenarios that will serve as the basis for the training.
In response to a request for details about the exercise, the Capitol Police said, “the only details we are disclosing at this time are what we tweet. We have done similar exercises in the past.”
The law enforcement agency did not immediately respond to a request for additional details such as the size and scope of the exercise or what prompted it to schedule the event now. Requests for comment and information about the exercise from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and the U.S. Secret Service were not immediately answered.
Two weeks ago the last contingent of National Guard troops who had been called in protect the Capitol in the aftermath of the riots left Washington. The fencing that had been hastily erected around the perimeter of the Capitol was dismantled in March.
As I wrote in earlier posts, the January riots have provided several crisis management lessons for business leaders. Next week’s scheduled exercise will provide another lesson: the importance of preparing for the next crisis, and testing crisis management plans, procedures, and policies to ensure they will work when needed.
The House Administration Committee, which oversees the Capitol Police, has held several public hearings about the events of January 6. Last month the House passed legislation to establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the riots. Republicans blocked the measure from being passed by the Senate.
According to USA Today, “Federal prosecutors have charged more than 400 people in more than 40 states with participating in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, and arrests continue almost daily.”