[Just The News] For weeks following the January 6 Capitol breach, the FBI encouraged anyone believing they could identify a member of the Capitol mob to share the information with the bureau. In the past six months, dozens of participants in the riot have been turned in to the FBI by friends, neighbors, and family members. The Washington Post has detailed accounts of adult children who reported their parents and neighbors who called in faces they recognized, just days after the episode.
In early July, the FBI's official Twitter account sent out a message encouraging "family members and peers" of potentially violent extremists, to learn "how to spot suspicious behaviors and report them to the #FBI." While the FBI continues its aggressive pursuit of members of the January 6 mob based on tips provided by civilians and loved ones — the bureau has not always been so assiduous in soliciting or following up often critical tips about potential violent extremists from informants, allies, and members of the broader community.
Here are five notorious examples of FBI failure to follow through on tips about potentially violent extremists and gunmen:
Skipping down to #3 and one of the more flagrant examples:
3. The 2013 Boston Marathon bombing: In 2011, Russian authorities warned the FBI about Tamerlan Tsarnev, one of the two Chechen brothers who carried out the bombing that killed three people and wounded more than 260.
Authorities missed chances to detain Tsarnev, despite reports that the Russian intelligence agency FSB had contacted the FBI more than a year prior to the bombing, to warn that Tsarnev had known associations with militant Islamic radicals.
A report from NBC News found that the FBI had opened an investigation of Tsarnev, that he was interviewed in person, and that a memo was sent to the Customs and Border Protection database that would, in theory, trigger a notification when he left or reentered the country. The FBI closed the investigation in June 2011, though the FSB continued to warn U.S. intelligence agencies.