Harbingers

December 2, 2024
In this informative debut, Heaphy shares what he learned about political violence from his unique position as the lead investigator of both the 2017 Unite the Right riot in Charlottesville and the January 6 insurrection. As the former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, Heaphy was tapped to investigate Unite the Right, and the after-action report he and his team produced identified numerous law enforcement failures, including underestimating the size of the rally and lack of coordination between agencies. Heaphy’s success in that role led to his appointment as chief counsel for the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack. Recapping those findings, Heaphy highlights the similarities between the two episodes, especially the law enforcement failures of each; in both cases, he contends, there was adequate intelligence and appropriate resources available, but planning was deficient because of “striking” disconnects “between the intelligence and the operational plans.” He identifies several reasons for those disconnects—the lack of adequate information sharing, agencies ignoring “leads derived from open sources” (i.e., online postings), and racial bias, which led to the threat from white men being underestimated. Heaphy concludes by prescribing well-meaning remedies to political violence—like encouraging policies that promote civic engagement and strengthen community ties—that unfortunately seem inadequate to addressing the institutional problems he himself has diagnosed. Still, Heaphy offers valuable insights into how political violence turns deadly.