By: NOLAN PAGE
Ever since the dust settled after the events of the Capitol insurrection on January 6, There has been one prevalent question: How did this happen and how can we stop it from happening again in the future? There was an immediate move to increase security at the Capitol after the attack in order to try and prevent any similar actions in the future. Members of Congress now have to pass through a metal detector and multiple fences, former General Russel Honoré was assigned to assess the capitol’s security and figure out how to improve it, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has promised to introduce emergency funding “for the safety of members and the security of the Capitol.”
This however still does not answer the question of how this attack happened, so on Monday, February 15 Pelosi officially announced plans to establish an independent, 9/11 style commission in order to “investigate and report on the facts and causes relating to the January 6, 2021 domestic terrorist attack upon the United States Capitol Complex.” Desire for this type of commission has been widespread among Democrats who see this as another chance to investigate former president Trump’s role in the riots despite his acquittal in the Impeachment Trial. The idea of the commission is even popular among Republicans wanting to prevent any similar attacks in the future.Republic Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina stated, “We need a 9/11 Commission to find out what happened and make sure it never happens again” and Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware said, “There’s still more evidence that the American people need and deserve to hear. The 9/11 Commission is a way to make sure that we secure the Capitol going forward, and that we lay bare the record of just how responsible and how abjectly and violating of his constitutional oath President Trump really was.”
Pelosi herself had also been calling for this type of commission to be established for two weeks before the official announcement. This commission would be modeled after the commission that investigated the 9/11 attack in 2002. That commission, after investigating for 15 months, eventually advised congress on changing the way it organized intelligence in order to prevent an attack similar to 9/11. Pelosi has complimented the 9/11 commission, but has emphasized that it will not be identical to the 9/11 commission and would have a focus on diversity, a factor which she critiqued about the earlier commission saying, “ What were there, nine people? All white, one woman. It will look different.” To put this commission into place, it will need to be passed by both the House and the Senate and then signed by the president. Pelosi confirmed when asked who she wanted to serve on the commission that it would also be an outside, independent commission meaning that no commission members would be elected leaders.
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