U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger, who took charge of the department in the difficult months after the U.S. Capitol siege, is retiring from his position Friday. After the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, he helped rebuild the department’s shrunken staff, beefed up recruitment efforts and bolstered the agency’s intelligence operations and communications to fix weaknesses revealed by the breach of the Capitol.
Manger told CBS News he faced stiff challenges when he arrived on the job in 2021.
“The department as a whole had lost confidence in the (prior) leadership as a result of what happened,” he said. “And there were big things that were identified as things that needed to be fixed as quickly as we could fix them: Things like the intelligence failures, the communication failures, the equipment failures, the training failures, the leadership failures — all of those things needed to be addressed immediately.”
Manger, a former local police chief in Fairfax County, Virginia, and Montgomery County, Maryland, successfully advocated for increases in funding to improve hiring, equipment and operations.
The department was blasted by critics for intelligence failures that contributed to the violation of the complex on Jan. 6, 2021.
“We now have a world class intelligence operation. We are significant players in the intelligence community in the Washington, D.C., region and, frankly, all over the country,” Manger said. “Whereas before, we were basically just —… we were consumers of information. The FBI would give us intelligence, other agencies would give us intelligence. Now we are gathering our own.”
The U.S. Capitol Police Board will select a new police chief, which Manger predicts will happen soon.
Manger has requested nearly $1 billion in funding for 2026, which would represent the latest in a series of recent budget boosts for the department. In testimony before a congressional committee on justifying his budget request, Manger cited an elevated number of investigations into threats against members of Congress.
“The current climate of threats has reached alarming levels,” he told the committee in April. Capitol Police records show the number of threats launched against congressional members in 2024 exceeded 9,400.
He added, “Social media and the internet provide a breeding ground for threats that — regardless of their nature — the department must investigate.”
Manger and the Capitol Police have also bolstered the department’s operations outside of Washington, responding to potential threats in the hometowns of lawmakers.
The department has a unique mission among police agencies, protecting elected leaders and securing the U.S. Capitol campus, which hosts over 3 million visitors each year. The Capitol is open to the public, and lawmakers are accessible to citizens.
Manger has been critical of the pardons issued by President Trump to free Capitol rioters who beat, clubbed and gassed Capitol Police and other officers during the attack on the Capitol. He told CBS News that when Mr. Trump issued 1,500 pardons to the suspected and convicted rioters when he took office, it “was probably one of my worst days in this job.”
He also blasted conspiracy theories about Jan. 6 that continue to circulate on social media.
“My folks were here on Jan. 6. They were part of what went on. They were assaulted,” Manger said. “They were in fights. Many of them were injured. They know exactly what happened on Jan. 6. For somebody to make up some story that, ‘Oh, it wasn’t that bad,’ — it is just not true.”
“What a chilling message to law enforcement, because we’ve got a job to do, and we don’t care what the issue is,” Manger continued. “We don’t care what side of the coin you’re on on any particular issue because we have a job to do, to maintain public order and to keep the peace.”
Rep. Joe Morelle, a New York Democrat who is the ranking member of the Committee on House Administration, said of Manger, “Since taking over at the department’s hour of greatest need, he professionalized a force in need of steady leadership.”
A union representative for Capitol Police officers told CBS News, “Manpower is still an issue, as well as balancing work and family life for the rank and file officers, which continues to plague morale within the agency.”
As he prepares to leave the department, Manger was lauded by one of the former Capitol Police officers who responded to the Jan. 6 riot. Former officer Harry Dunn told CBS News, “He showed his love for country, his love for law enforcement and his continued dedication to public service.”
Scott MacFarlane is CBS News’ Justice correspondent. He has covered Washington for two decades, earning 20 Emmy and Edward R. Murrow awards. His reporting has resulted directly in the passage of five new laws.
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