WASHINGTON (AP) Testifying for the first time about the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, former security officials blamed faulty intelligence for the disastrous failure to anticipate the violent intentions of the mob that invaded the building and interrupted the certification of the presidential election.

The officials, including the former chief of the Capitol Police, are blaming other federal agencies and each other for their failure to defend the building as supporters of then-President Donald Trump overwhelmed security barriers, breaking windows and doors and sending lawmakers fleeing from the House and Senate chambers. They say they expected the protests to be similar to two pro-Trump events in late 2020 that were far less violent.

Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund described a scene that was like nothing he had seen in his 30 years of policing.

When the group arrived at the perimeter, they did not act like any group of protestors I had ever seen, the ousted chief said, arguing that the insurrection was not the result of poor planning but of failures across the board from many agencies and officials.

No single civilian law enforcement agency and certainly not the USCP is trained and equipped to repel, without significant military or other law enforcement assistance, an insurrection of thousands of armed, violent, and coordinated individuals focused on breaching a building at all costs, Sund said.