New attack on Capitol | The debate about security has resumed

France Media Agency

A Capitol police officer was killed and another was injured when a man threw his car at them before crashing into a security fence. The driver came out of the vehicle with a knife in his hand before firing.

The attack comes three months after pro-Trump protesters stormed Congress headquarters in Washington on Jan. 6, including right-wing activists.

Discussion about the defense of the site was reopened, especially about the barrier built after the January 6 attack, around the buildings that housed the complex. Part of it has recently been removed and the security perimeter around the main building and its famous dome has been tightened.

Missouri-based Republican Senator Roy Blunt has warned against the idea of ​​barricading the campus.

“I think it would be a mistake if there were permanent barriers around the capital,” he told ABC, adding that they were there when the “assailant’s car” attacked them. Police officials said Friday.

Russell Honor, a retired lieutenant general who conducted an audit of the security system after the January 6 attack, said elected officials on both sides made security a priority – wanting the building to be “100% accessible”.

“This is something that all the members of Congress we talked about during the six weeks we were there put forward: they want public access,” he told ABC.

It is possible to achieve such a balance with “improvements and barriers to resources, cameras and sensors for Capital Police”. He suggested sending 200 National Guard soldiers to the scene permanently for a period of two years, as happened after 9/11.

Recommendations are given. “We gave them a plan. We worked a lot on it. Now it’s up to Congress to work on it.”