Former U.S. Capitol Police chief says he requested National Guard before Jan. 6 and recounts delays in new book

Steven Sund, the former chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, said in a podcast interview that he requested National Guard support on Jan. 3, 2021 — before the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol — but that the request was denied by Capitol leadership and the Capitol Police Board, delaying reinforcement during the breach.

Sund, who is the author of an after‑action account he described as a book‑length report that Congress has entered into the record, told host Sheriff Mike Chapman that he sought permission twice on Jan. 3 to bring Guard troops to strengthen the Capitol perimeter. "January 3rd... I go and request the National Guard. I request it twice," he said in the interview. Sund said the chair of the Capitol Police Board and the sergeant‑at‑arms rejected the request, citing concerns about optics and saying intelligence did not support bringing Guard forces.

Why it matters: Sund framed the denials as a legal and procedural barrier that left the Capitol Police understaffed for perimeter control on Jan. 6. He said he had about 273 officers posted along a long fence line and worried that without uniformed personnel people would attempt to jump the barrier. "If I don't have uniform people behind that fence, people are going to be likely to jump it," Sund said.

Sund described a compressed sequence of events on Jan. 6: a reported pipe bomb at roughly 12:41 p.m., the first large‑scale breach of windows shortly after, and a frantic series of calls to partner agencies. He said he called Metropolitan Police Department leadership to request nearby resources and that DC Police provided a bicycle platoon he called "a lifesaver." "I went ahead and called a guy by the name of Jeff Carroll... He put seven bicycle platoon near the capital, which was a lifesaver, I think," Sund said.

Sund said he made dozens of calls to partner agencies and that mutual‑aid from 19 agencies and roughly 1,900 officers helped retake the Capitol within about four and a half hours. He also said he placed more than 30 telephone calls to the Capitol Police Board and sergeants‑at‑arms and that formal approval to bring in outside resources arrived about 71 minutes after initial requests, shortly before the first window was broken.

On accountability and aftermath: Sund said he compiled notes and wrote an after‑action report that became a book, which he described as apolitical and fact‑driven. "I wrote it as an afteraction report... I wrote it as apolitical," he said. He also said he received whistleblower information from multiple agencies that informed his account and that congressional reporting has since, in his words, "validated everything I've said. They've actually vindicated me and exonerated me in writing."

Sund also voiced concern about what he characterized as disparate prosecutorial outcomes after Jan. 6. He compared the number of arrests and the penalties sought in Jan. 6 prosecutions with prior protests and said some trespassers received sentences he considered unusually severe. "A number of these people I think were overpenalized," he said, adding that while those who injured officers should be held accountable, he had concerns about proportionality for lower‑level trespass cases.

Context and next steps: Sund recounted his broader career in the Metropolitan Police Department and later as chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, and said he remains involved in law enforcement and emergency management in the private sector and as an instructor. He said the book grew from his detailed after‑action notes and that it has been used in congressional review.

What Sund said, in his words, points to a mixture of legal procedures, leadership decisions and interagency coordination challenges that he argues together contributed to the vulnerability on Jan. 6. The podcast interview closes with Sund urging better leadership, officer wellness and clearer decision pathways for securing high‑risk events.

The interview and Sund's book are part of a broader set of congressional reviews and investigations into the security failures of Jan. 6. Sund's claims about requests for the National Guard, the timing of approvals and the role of specific officers and officials are described in his on‑record account and were reiterated in this podcast. The episode did not include contemporaneous documentation of every call or email Sund referenced; his statements reflect his account and materials he later compiled for his after‑action report.