Domestic Darkness: An Insider’s Account of the January 6 Insurrection and the Future of Right-Wing Extremism

Farnam, the former assistant and then acting director of the U.S. Capitol Police’s intelligence division, debuts with an insightful account of the January 6 Capitol attack. After 13 years with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Farnam landed the assistant director job shortly before the 2020 presidential election. She found a mess—the Capitol Police had not implemented long–called for reforms to address such endemic problems as its flawed procedures for disseminating information and collecting and evaluating intelligence. According to Farnam, her improvement efforts encountered resistance from an organizational culture “that prized silence over sharing.” The department’s weaknesses, she points out, were on full display on the day of the insurrection. Though her intelligence assessment of the planned MAGA rallies, circulated a few days earlier, had noted that “Congress itself is the target,” Capitol Police chief Steven Sund did not call upon all of his available resources; by not canceling leaves, his force was at half-strength. Recounting numerous other missteps, Farnam makes the terror of that day palpable. She’s also candid about her own mistakes, including her misjudgment in entering into a relationship with a law enforcement official who ended up federally charged for leaking information to the leader of the Proud Boys. It’s a noteworthy addition to the growing shelf on January 6. (Jan.)