Capitol Police chief addresses 'human failure' that led to security lapses

Justin Papp, CQ-Roll Call on Mar 25, 2025

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WASHINGTON — Lawmakers on Tuesday largely applauded Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger for the department’s work keeping the campus safe, despite a string of recently disclosed security lapses involving staff and members of the public.

Manger was called to testify before the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee on steps taken in light of the breaches, including refresher training, new artificial intelligence software on x-ray machines and closer oversight from police leadership of screening stations.

The chief, who has announced he plans to retire in May, was met warmly. Subcommittee Chair David Valadao, R-Calif., congratulated Manger on navigating high-profile events like this year’s inaugural ceremonies and President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress.

“While we certainly appreciate and have come to expect these successes, we also recognize that continued success in your mission requires some change, some refocusing and retraining,” Valadao said. “These breaches are unacceptable and cannot be permitted to continue. That being said, we do not want a few human errors to wipe out your record of success in keeping our community safe.”

“At the end of the day, these security lapses were not an equipment failure, not a training failure or a policy failure. They were, in fact, the hardest kind of failure to address: human failure,” Manger testified.

The breaches all occurred in recent months, and in two instances individuals apparently got firearms through Capitol security.

One involved a man who Capitol Police caught with a firearm after taking a tour of the Capitol. Surveillance video showed he likely passed through a security checkpoint with the gun in his waistband, according to a police affidavit.

A second involved a staffer for Tennessee Republican Rep. Andy Ogles. The staffer, Giancarlo Mandato, was arrested by Capitol Police on March 4 — the day of Trump’s joint address — after attempting to bring a loaded handgun through security. He told police it wasn’t the first time he had carried it to work, according to Manger.

“He said, ‘Oh, I brought it through yesterday.’ And that’s when we realized we missed it,” Manger said after the hearing.

The third incident occurred Feb. 11. Police said a former congressional staffer who still had a congressional ID entered the Cannon House Office Building through a parking garage and walked around a magnetometer. The former staffer was parking the car of his girlfriend, a current staffer, and was not deemed a threat, according to Capitol Police.

House Appropriations ranking member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., lauded Manger and the force for the work it had done to shore up security in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol, when a pro-Trump mob assaulted police and broke into the building in an attempt to stop the certification of election results. She also expressed dismay at the recent presence of weapons on the grounds.

“The tolerable number of firearms entering the complex that are carried by anyone but those explicitly authorized … should be zero. We need to understand in explicit detail … why that has not been the case,” DeLauro said.

Manger told the lawmakers that each instance was the result of human error committed by a small number of the department’s roughly 1,600 rank-and-file officers. Still, the department is making broad policy changes to prevent further lapses.

The department is implementing a rotation system wherein the maximum amount of time an officer is assigned to a post is between 30 and 45 minutes. Officers rotate between posts, to ensure they are “moving and not stagnant at the same machines for long periods of time leading to complacency,” Manger explained in his written testimony.

Starting in the summer, all screening officers will undergo an updated training and an associated test, which officers will need to pass every six months. And the department is undergoing a best practice review, drawing on agencies like the Secret Service and the Transportation Security Administration to benchmark training.

Utah Republican Rep. Celeste Maloy said technological improvements and increased training sounded good, but worried about how certain changes would affect officers.

“I’m concerned that there might be a temptation on the part of leadership in the Capitol Police to make changes to satisfy us that might hurt morale in the force,” Maloy said. “Things like increasing the rotations and changing the setup of these checkpoints might make officers feel like they’re being policed and treated like children.”

Gus Papathanasiou, who leads the Capitol Police union, said he agrees with certain proposals presented by Manger, like increased training.

“But some of what the chief testified to is extreme and will impact officer morale in a negative manner,” Papathanasiou said after the hearing. “I think making blanket changes instead of dealing with each occurrence individually is what hurts morale. Like (Chief) Manger said, 99.9% of the officers do their jobs.”

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