I’ve said many times how much I value source documents.

Back 30-35 years ago, I had a number of interactions with a new project that called itself the “National Security Archive,” and visited their office in Washington several times during that period. The new organization was challenging government secrecy by using the federal Freedom of Information Act to extract important documents from the government, and making those available to the public and the news media.

Luckily for us, National Security Archive is still around and active.

It is now documenting the January 6, 2021 takeover of the U.S. Capitol with an ongoing effort, “The Capitol Riot: Documents you should read.”

According to the group’s website: “The January 6 Sourcebook publication marks the continuation of a systematic campaign by the Archive, a champion of the Freedom of Information Act, to use the FOIA to open the documentary record of what the government knew and when, and what the government did and didn’t do and when, about the mob attack on the Capitol. Archive staff have already drafted more than 100 specific, targeted FOIA requests to multiple federal agencies.”

The Capitol Riot: Documents You Should Read (Part 1)

Washington, D.C., January 13, 2021 – The Pentagon’s timeline of its response to the January 6, 2021 mob attack on the U.S. Capitol features multiple discrepancies with the public record, while the first federal indictment of mob participants details the specific legal charges that likely will be brought against others, according to the documents in the National Security Archive’s first “January 6 Sourcebook” posted today.

The Sourcebook, subtitled “documents you should read,” includes:

* the Dissent Channel message signed by more than 100 State Department employees denouncing the attack as undermining the U.S. promotion of democracy abroad (published by Josh Rogin of the Washington Post in his Twitter feed);

* the earlier 2006 FBI report warning of white supremacists’ influence in far-right circles, released by the House Oversight Committee;

* the Department of Homeland Security threat assessment from October 2020 warning that violent white supremacy was “the most persistent and lethal threat in the Homeland” (published by Lawfare);

* the FBI poster “seeking information” on “violence at the U.S. Capitol”;

* the text of the speech by President Trump at the Ellipse just prior to the mob marching on the Capitol (published and annotated by the Washington Post);

* the Congressional Research Service report detailing the steps Congress was taking to certify the presidential election vote when the mob interrupted (posted by Steve Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists); and

* the federal grand jury indictment of one of the mob members, Mark Leffingwell, citing five different sections of the U.S. Code violated by the mob. (First reported by Josh Gerstein of Politico.)

The Capitol Riot: Documents You Should Read (Part 2)

Washington, D.C., March 3, 2021 – Video evidence presented by House impeachment managers during Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial shows just how close the violent mob came to physically confronting Vice President Mike Pence and Senators Mitt Romney and Chuck Schumer, and includes footage of the mob rifling through congressional desks and offices. The never-before-seen cell phone and surveillance footage, which members of Congress watched at the same time as the public, makes the Pentagon’s continued silence about its delay in sending in the D.C. National Guard to protect the U.S. Capitol all the more glaring.

The videos, as well as the flash message that was sent at 5:39 PM ordering all D.C. National Guard not already at the Capitol to report to duty – hours after the assault was underway – are among the documents posted today in the National Security Archive’s second “January 6 Sourcebook”.

The Sourcebook’s second installment includes:

* A collection of seven videos presented by House impeachment managers;

* An FBI press release announcing a $75,000 reward for information on the person(s) who placed pipe bombs at the Democratic and Republican National Committee buildings;

* The flash message sent by Joint Operations Command ordering all D.C. National Guard troops not already supporting Operation First Amendment Support to report to the D.C. National Guard armory at 7 PM for encampment duty;

* The official written testimonies submitted by Steven A. Sund, Former Chief of Police, U.S. Capitol Police, Robert J. Contee III, Acting Chief of Police of the Metropolitan Police Department, Washington, D.C., and others for the first joint Senate hearing on the events of January 6, “Examining the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol”;

* A re-posting of the Defense Department’s three-page timeline that fails, particularly in light of the impeachment video evidence, to answer mounting questions about the catastrophic decision to delay sending in the D.C. National Guard to assist the Capitol Police.