just days before the anniversary of the january 6th insurrection. Us capitol police Chief Tom Manger addressed the current state of his embattled department. The United States capitol police as an organization is stronger and better prepared to carry out its mission today than it was before january 6th of last year. A report last month by Inspector General Michael bolton found that only about a quarter of the 104 recommended changes to the U. S. Capitol police following the january 6th riot have been implemented. But today major said 60 other reforms are in progress. There was no question in my mind, looking at all of the recommendations Um that intelligence, operational planning and um getting our civil disturbance unit up to where it needs to be with the three biggest issues and those are the ones that we worked on first and those are the ones that frankly are largely completed. Still, the department faces daunting challenges. At least four January 6 responders have died by suicide over the last year. The department also has not been able to fully address staffing issues. It has lost over 130 officers through retirement or resignation after January six and the force is still about 400 officers short of where it needs to be and those who remain still have scars from the attack this whole past year has been very Sergeant Aquilino Gun L A 15 year veteran of the force was assigned to guard the west entrance to the capitol on january 6th today. He reflected on that haunting experience. The the magnitude of what we encounter was something like I never experienced myself, not even when I was overseas and In combat. Gunnel was out for months because of injuries sustained during the insurrection and still grapples with trauma from that day. When I returned to the capital on November three, I hesitated before going in, to be honest, um, and for a moment I thought it's going to be got wrenching to even take the first step out of my car.