Park Police ill prepared for pro-Palestine protest that turned violent near White House, memos show
- January 22, 2026
Steven Richards, Just the News
An internal, after-action review by the Biden-era National Park Service found that the U.S. Park Service did not properly monitor a pro-Palestine protest surrounding the White House which resulted in assaults against officers and the defacing of statues in Lafayette Park.
The failure to improve security for the permitted event followed a similar protest in the same park just months before that forced the Biden White House to evacuate staffers who worked in proximity to Pennsylvania Avenue when protesters damaged security fencing and threw objects onto the property.
The after-action report was uncovered in a batch of documents released by the Interior Department under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from Protect the Public’s Trust, an independent government watchdog group. PPT shared those documents with Just the News.
“It’s mind-boggling, though hardly surprising, that Deb Haaland’s Department of the Interior would not anticipate and adequately prepare for security threats at an anti-Israel rally in Washington, D.C. Even more so in light of the fact similar types of recent demonstrations had frequently devolved into violence and security breaches, including at her agency’s headquarters, no less!” Michael Chamberlain, Director of Protect the Public’s Trust told Just the News.