Law enforcement officials across the country expressed shock over the chaos at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, with some saying police were "entirely unprepared" and others calling the response "embarrassing."

Many said it was the failure of the Capitol Police to prevent the physical invasion of the building by pro-Trump rioters that concerned them most.

Carmen Best, who was chief of the Seattle police from 2018 to September and is now an NBC News contributor, said that, like many other Americans, she watched the events at the Capitol unfold on television.

Response took too long

"I was wondering, where were the cops? If they don't get there soon, what else could transpire? It felt like a very long time, and I'm sure millions of people were also watching and thinking the same thing," Best said.

While she said she did not want to be overly critical of the Capitol Police, given that facts were still coming to light, she said the response "took way too long."

National security concerns

A senior law enforcement official with decades of experience handling high-profile security events at a major-city police department raised national security concerns in light of the breaches of senior congressional leaders' offices.

The official wondered what documents were exposed, what computers were unlocked and what phone numbers were out in the open when rioters entered the offices. The official was also concerned that foreign intelligence officers could have been mixed in with the crowd.

How did they not get wind of this?

Another senior law enforcement official from a major department, who has managed protests and intelligence, noted that no SWAT or other specialized units were in front of the Capitol before the mob's arrival that would have been trained to stop and shut down the effort to storm the building. The official suggested that there had been an intelligence failure.

"How did they not get wind of this?" the official asked. The official said that social media should have been combed for any clues to the group's movements and intentions and that the rally should have been monitored.
[nbcnews.com]