Capitol Police Chief Manger concerned about rising threats against lawmakers

As U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger retires from his station astatine the Capitol Friday, helium says the threats facing members of Congress person accelerated  — they've much than quadrupled implicit the past respective years and stay alarmingly high.

Manger, who took complaint of the section successful the hard months aft the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol siege, quantified the surge successful threats targeting lawmakers and however the section has had to germinate to grow its extortion of senators and House members. 

Leaning guardant successful his spot to stress his point, Manger said, "It's a immense responsibility. We've gone from 1,000 to 2,000 threats a twelvemonth to present 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 threats a year." And those threats are present reaching extracurricular the Capitol. The section is being dispersed farther and wider to forestall attacks. 

"The threats are coming successful from each implicit the country. Not everybody knows it, but the Capitol Police has nationwide jurisdiction to code those threats," Manger said. "So, we are sending investigators and agents each implicit this state to analyse these cases."

He has helped unafraid ample fund increases for his section to assistance support the Capitol campus, its members, staffers and visitors. But the increasing request to bolster information and investigations successful the 50 states — including the hometowns and location offices of members of Congress — has required much backing and much staff. 

Manger's fund petition for 2026 is astir $1 billion, astir treble the backing the section was fixed successful 2021, anterior to the Capitol riot. In a missive to a U.S. House subcommittee successful April, Manger wrote, "I admit determination are different constabulary departments of a akin size whose fund is not arsenic ample arsenic ours, but we are not an mean instrumentality enforcement agency."     

In his request, Manger besides said helium expected the fig of threats against lawmakers to proceed to rise, "given the existent governmental climate."

The Capitol Police person aggressively recruited and acceptable ambitious hiring goals to assistance bolster their extortion details for members of Congress. Manger, successful his grounds earlier the House Appropriations Committee past month, said the section is adding dozens of caller positions successful the portion that oversees protective details and intelligence.    

He told CBS News the section was already hampered with a staffing shortage earlier the Jan. 6 onslaught and has faced hurdles successful its effort to hire, owed to morale issues and trauma suffered by officers aft the Insurrection. Four officers who responded connected Jan. 6 died by suicide wrong 7 months of the attack. Many officers astatine the Capitol that time were subjected to repeated convulsive assaults. Manger has been urging lawmakers to enactment his recommended fund summation to assistance boost serviceman hiring and recruitment.   

"When [lawmakers] travel, erstwhile they're astatine the airports, erstwhile they person legislature concern to bash astatine home," Manger said. "They've got to conscionable with their constituents. So, we privation to marque definite that they're safe."

An contiguous replacement for Manger has not yet been named. The U.S. Capitol Police Board volition prime a successor, but helium expects immoderate lawmakers volition besides privation to conscionable candidates for the position.

At an April proceeding connected the Capitol Police budget, Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a New York Democrat who has oversight of the constabulary department, said the section "does request much to support america safe."