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Domestic Darkness: An Insider's Account of the January 6th Insurrection, and the Future of Right-Wing Extremism
After being named Assistant Director of Intelligence for the Capitol Police just days before the 2020 election, Julie Farnam warned its leadership of the upcoming insurrection, sharing that “Congress itself is the target on the 6th.” Tragically, her warnings were ignored. Domestic Darkness takes us inside the explosive events of January 6, 2021, revealing how the Capitol Police disregarded intelligence about the right-wing extremists who would seize the capitol on that fateful day. In addition to offering a harrowing view of what it was like on the ground, watching the violence unfold and knowing it could have been prevented, Domestic Darkness also examines the specific groups and ideologies, such as the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, QAnon, and white supremacists, who were central to the events of January 6th and who, emboldened by Trump and other right-wing leaders, continue to be a threat to our democracy. The book will also explore what happened within the Capitol Police in the wake of the insurrection, and how to address future dangers from domestic terrorism. With the 2024 presidential election just around the corner, we need to look at the lessons January 6th taught us to ensure something like that never happens again.
298 pages, Hardcover
Published January 2, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 14, 2025
The description of the book is somewhat misleading as the author’s primary focus is defending her actions (not without justification) rather than providing an account of relevant events. While this focus is understandable and at times leads to eye-opening insights into how good-ole-boy politics and misogyny have negatively impacted intelligence gathering and the operationalization of that intelligence, it compromised any claim that the author might have wanted to make with reference to providing an objective assessment. Additionally, in assessing the rise of right-wing groups and right-wing violence in the United States, the author focuses strictly on political and psychological factors, ignoring the role that increased economic insecurity has played in this country’s drift to the right — an error for which the Democrats paid dearly in the 2024 election.
January 17, 2024
Wow! Our country continues to be vulnerable to extremists. Our democracy is fragile. In a nutshell “To stem the violence, we as a country must take a stand against those who want to destroy us, including those from within. None of the solutions are easy, but the only way we can move forward is to address hate and conspiracies head on. From education to legislation to vigilance, all of us play a role in protecting our democracy.”
January 6, 2024
Factual accounts from the then Assistant Director of Intelligence. Interesting points of how to prevent and dissuade those looking to join extremism groups as well as recommendations of a national strategy for battling conspiracy theories. Can’t wait to see her speak in person!
January 14, 2024
Real Rating: 4.5* of five, rounded ^ to get attention
The Publisher Says: After being named Assistant Director of Intelligence for the Capitol Police just days before the 2020 election, Julie Farnam warned its leadership of the upcoming insurrection, sharing that “Congress itself is the target on the 6th.” Tragically, her warnings were ignored.
Domestic Darkness takes us inside the explosive events of January 6, 2021, revealing how the Capitol Police disregarded intelligence about the right-wing extremists who would seize the capitol on that fateful day. In addition to offering a harrowing view of what it was like on the ground, watching the violence unfold and knowing it could have been prevented, Domestic Darkness also examines the specific groups and ideologies, such as the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, QAnon, and white supremacists, who were central to the events of January 6th and who, emboldened by Trump and other right-wing leaders, continue to be a threat to our democracy.
The book will also explore what happened within the Capitol Police in the wake of the insurrection, and how to address future dangers from domestic terrorism. With the 2024 presidential election just around the corner, we need to look at the lessons January 6th taught us to ensure something like that never happens again.
Julie Farnam served as the Assistant and then Acting Director of Intelligence for the United States Capitol Police during one of the most tumultuous periods in this country’s history. During her time there, she oversaw the identification and vetting of nearly 20,000 threats against members of Congress, most of which were made by U.S. citizens who adhered to extremist ideologies.
Prior to joining the Capitol Police, Farnam served with the Department of Homeland Security for over fifteen years.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: Oh gawd, I hear y’all thinking, he’s off again, ranting about the MAGATs and their scum of a leader.
Yep. Sit down and eat your literary spinach. This is Important.
I will avoid the book report part of the read because 1. I hate doing it, b. I want to, iii. the details that Author Farnam presents made me sick to my stomach to read. That US citizens could be radicalized in this vile, scumbaggy way is a shock to my sensibilities, though in no way a surprise. I did, after all, grow up in Texas.
What I *will* discuss is the scariest, most infuriating bit of the story (to this reader, anyway)...the misogyny and unaccountability of the US Capitol Police. They dismissed a fifteen-year intelligence professional's substantiated warnings because she is a woman...they didn't have to give information to any other agencies because the Legislative Branch for whom they work is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act...they had the usual Police Department attitude towards those outside of mild contempt and utter disrespect. This is someone who came from the inside, and they treated her like she was a tourist who happened to find an unoccupied desk.
Why I want you to read it is simple: Author Farnam names names. There were those inside the US Capitol that bad, horrifying January day in 2021 who very carefully did nothing. She knows who, and makes a decent case for why. This is, by itself, worth the cost of the book. The manner in which the author makes her case for what to do with that information is a model of clarity and convincing authority. Her commonsensical call for this very important law enforcement agency to work collegially with other parts of the huge security apparatus the US is hagridden by seems modest enough, given the events of January 6, 2021. Her additional, very well founded calls for the US law enforcement establishment to expand its definitions of, and penalties for, terrorism of domestic origin are music to my cop unfriendly ears. This is a major problem and it will not go away if we just ignore it.
One of the most frustrating bits of the read was the realization that Author Farnam handed her critics a big cudgel to bludgeon her with: She had an intimate relationship with a man inside the department who, it later transpired, was feeding insider knowledge to the insurrectionists. This is in the end, however, one of the most important pluses of the read. She is upfront about it, she makes no bones about his fate of being Federally indicted for his role being just and proper, and thus assures us...possibly convinces those on the MAGAt side, too...that she speaks with real, sincere awareness of the many facets of the problems she delineates and offers solutions for.
There is no louder voice than the one from inside the house. This book amplifies that voice for us all to hear...and I very much hope heed as well.
The Publisher Says: After being named Assistant Director of Intelligence for the Capitol Police just days before the 2020 election, Julie Farnam warned its leadership of the upcoming insurrection, sharing that “Congress itself is the target on the 6th.” Tragically, her warnings were ignored.
Domestic Darkness takes us inside the explosive events of January 6, 2021, revealing how the Capitol Police disregarded intelligence about the right-wing extremists who would seize the capitol on that fateful day. In addition to offering a harrowing view of what it was like on the ground, watching the violence unfold and knowing it could have been prevented, Domestic Darkness also examines the specific groups and ideologies, such as the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, QAnon, and white supremacists, who were central to the events of January 6th and who, emboldened by Trump and other right-wing leaders, continue to be a threat to our democracy.
The book will also explore what happened within the Capitol Police in the wake of the insurrection, and how to address future dangers from domestic terrorism. With the 2024 presidential election just around the corner, we need to look at the lessons January 6th taught us to ensure something like that never happens again.
Julie Farnam served as the Assistant and then Acting Director of Intelligence for the United States Capitol Police during one of the most tumultuous periods in this country’s history. During her time there, she oversaw the identification and vetting of nearly 20,000 threats against members of Congress, most of which were made by U.S. citizens who adhered to extremist ideologies.
Prior to joining the Capitol Police, Farnam served with the Department of Homeland Security for over fifteen years.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.
My Review: Oh gawd, I hear y’all thinking, he’s off again, ranting about the MAGATs and their scum of a leader.
Yep. Sit down and eat your literary spinach. This is Important.
I will avoid the book report part of the read because 1. I hate doing it, b. I want to, iii. the details that Author Farnam presents made me sick to my stomach to read. That US citizens could be radicalized in this vile, scumbaggy way is a shock to my sensibilities, though in no way a surprise. I did, after all, grow up in Texas.
What I *will* discuss is the scariest, most infuriating bit of the story (to this reader, anyway)...the misogyny and unaccountability of the US Capitol Police. They dismissed a fifteen-year intelligence professional's substantiated warnings because she is a woman...they didn't have to give information to any other agencies because the Legislative Branch for whom they work is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act...they had the usual Police Department attitude towards those outside of mild contempt and utter disrespect. This is someone who came from the inside, and they treated her like she was a tourist who happened to find an unoccupied desk.
Why I want you to read it is simple: Author Farnam names names. There were those inside the US Capitol that bad, horrifying January day in 2021 who very carefully did nothing. She knows who, and makes a decent case for why. This is, by itself, worth the cost of the book. The manner in which the author makes her case for what to do with that information is a model of clarity and convincing authority. Her commonsensical call for this very important law enforcement agency to work collegially with other parts of the huge security apparatus the US is hagridden by seems modest enough, given the events of January 6, 2021. Her additional, very well founded calls for the US law enforcement establishment to expand its definitions of, and penalties for, terrorism of domestic origin are music to my cop unfriendly ears. This is a major problem and it will not go away if we just ignore it.
One of the most frustrating bits of the read was the realization that Author Farnam handed her critics a big cudgel to bludgeon her with: She had an intimate relationship with a man inside the department who, it later transpired, was feeding insider knowledge to the insurrectionists. This is in the end, however, one of the most important pluses of the read. She is upfront about it, she makes no bones about his fate of being Federally indicted for his role being just and proper, and thus assures us...possibly convinces those on the MAGAt side, too...that she speaks with real, sincere awareness of the many facets of the problems she delineates and offers solutions for.
There is no louder voice than the one from inside the house. This book amplifies that voice for us all to hear...and I very much hope heed as well.
February 24, 2024
Review title: The Last line of defense
OK I just finished my planned quartet of Trump era books last night and had hoped to leave that sad section of my reading list behind for a while when I saw this book on the new-book shelf at my local library. It was short and written by the assistant director of the Capitol Police Intelligence Division so I picked it up to truly cap this off.
Julie Farnum was just hired into the role in November 2020 and was still a probationary employee feeling her way through understanding the skills, work habits, and politics of the Capitol Police and her intelligence division when the insurrection ignited. From her account, all three of those aspects of this new job were working against her, as was a dispersed staff working from home much of the time during those Covid-19 months. Coming from a previous role with the Immigration section of the Department of Homeland Security, she was an outsider coming into a small cliquish law enforcement community so she was likely to face some resistance. And reading between the lines her personality was a poor fit at the time and comes through in her post-mortem of the event with a bit of self-defensive whining.
That aside, this is a short account focusing on those three fateful months from election to insurrection. Farnum and her team were involved in assessing the intelligence relating to risks of violence for the permitting process for two December rallies supporting Trump and the multiple planned events for January 6. Congressional hearings after the event pointed to intelligence reports for the two December rallies downplaying the risks, which Farnum says was an accurate assessment based on their outcomes, and to the risks of the January 6 events being buried in hard to read analysis, which Farnum rewrote because of her team's lack of analytical skills. Farnum defends her role by laying blame on "a combination of arrogance, congressional pressure, a comfort with mediocrity and a lack of communication within the Capitol Police that truly caused the calamity." (p. 115). Rather than bad intelligence, the issue was "a failure to operationalize the intelligence." (p. 142)
Aside from her touching detail that early that morning she called her child care to come pick up her daughters from school near the Capitol because of her sense of impending violence, Farnum doesn't add much detail to the events of January 6. But she is firm in stating that "there was in fact a coordinated, preplanned effort on January 6 to forcibly destroy the government of the United States, to oppose the authority of Congress, and to prevent, hinder, and delay the certification of the presidential election results. This is what is known as a seditious conspiracy." (p. 128). She cites lists of specific actions by the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers that day (p. 131-135) as evidence of planned violence to accomplish that goal. In describing these organizations and the history of domestic terrorism that lead up to January 6, Farnum covers much of the same ground Malcolm Nance covers in more detail in They Want to Kill Americans: The Militias, Terrorists, and Deranged Ideology of the Trump Insurgency.
Farnum provides footnoting of the document history defending the action of her and her team, but no index, which would be nice but not essential as the 268 small-format pages tell the story in a common sense sequence and can be fairly easily scanned to find specific information. Perhaps the most important takeaway from this latest of many accounts of that sad day is that these are ordinary Americans working 9-to-5 jobs to protect and support their families who are now forced to serve as the last line of defense for American democracy against this Domestic Darkness surrounding Donald Trump.
OK I just finished my planned quartet of Trump era books last night and had hoped to leave that sad section of my reading list behind for a while when I saw this book on the new-book shelf at my local library. It was short and written by the assistant director of the Capitol Police Intelligence Division so I picked it up to truly cap this off.
Julie Farnum was just hired into the role in November 2020 and was still a probationary employee feeling her way through understanding the skills, work habits, and politics of the Capitol Police and her intelligence division when the insurrection ignited. From her account, all three of those aspects of this new job were working against her, as was a dispersed staff working from home much of the time during those Covid-19 months. Coming from a previous role with the Immigration section of the Department of Homeland Security, she was an outsider coming into a small cliquish law enforcement community so she was likely to face some resistance. And reading between the lines her personality was a poor fit at the time and comes through in her post-mortem of the event with a bit of self-defensive whining.
That aside, this is a short account focusing on those three fateful months from election to insurrection. Farnum and her team were involved in assessing the intelligence relating to risks of violence for the permitting process for two December rallies supporting Trump and the multiple planned events for January 6. Congressional hearings after the event pointed to intelligence reports for the two December rallies downplaying the risks, which Farnum says was an accurate assessment based on their outcomes, and to the risks of the January 6 events being buried in hard to read analysis, which Farnum rewrote because of her team's lack of analytical skills. Farnum defends her role by laying blame on "a combination of arrogance, congressional pressure, a comfort with mediocrity and a lack of communication within the Capitol Police that truly caused the calamity." (p. 115). Rather than bad intelligence, the issue was "a failure to operationalize the intelligence." (p. 142)
Aside from her touching detail that early that morning she called her child care to come pick up her daughters from school near the Capitol because of her sense of impending violence, Farnum doesn't add much detail to the events of January 6. But she is firm in stating that "there was in fact a coordinated, preplanned effort on January 6 to forcibly destroy the government of the United States, to oppose the authority of Congress, and to prevent, hinder, and delay the certification of the presidential election results. This is what is known as a seditious conspiracy." (p. 128). She cites lists of specific actions by the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers that day (p. 131-135) as evidence of planned violence to accomplish that goal. In describing these organizations and the history of domestic terrorism that lead up to January 6, Farnum covers much of the same ground Malcolm Nance covers in more detail in They Want to Kill Americans: The Militias, Terrorists, and Deranged Ideology of the Trump Insurgency.
Farnum provides footnoting of the document history defending the action of her and her team, but no index, which would be nice but not essential as the 268 small-format pages tell the story in a common sense sequence and can be fairly easily scanned to find specific information. Perhaps the most important takeaway from this latest of many accounts of that sad day is that these are ordinary Americans working 9-to-5 jobs to protect and support their families who are now forced to serve as the last line of defense for American democracy against this Domestic Darkness surrounding Donald Trump.
February 4, 2024
I think one of the best ways to describe this memoir is chaotic, but it's layers of different chaos.
First is the writing style. Farnam alternates between USCP intelligence and interworkings pre - and post J6, but will then focus heavily on group structures and events of domestic terrorists of the last 30 years. There are some interesting views, but at times, it felt like two different books.
Secondly, her job at USCP. She recognizes the force needs some overhauling, and J6 definitely exposed many issues. She also notes people were reluctant or downright hostile to change, which I think really escalated to August 2, 2023. But at the same time, Farnam comes across as having no friends or allies, frequently quoting how unpopular she was and how much she wanted to change procedures and protocol, but not really working with people or their concerns.
The further mentions of tensions with the former USCP Chief and Spokeswoman, as well as terminated employees showed there was a breakdown in communication structures, but also showcased an attitude of "I was right," "I explained," "If they just listened," and "They attacked me." At times this memoir came across as more of a defense.
Even the recommendations at the end were unbalanced. A dedicated team to watch and respond to social media is doable compared to a lofty ideal of "everyone should be teaching their children extremists groups are bad."
First is the writing style. Farnam alternates between USCP intelligence and interworkings pre - and post J6, but will then focus heavily on group structures and events of domestic terrorists of the last 30 years. There are some interesting views, but at times, it felt like two different books.
Secondly, her job at USCP. She recognizes the force needs some overhauling, and J6 definitely exposed many issues. She also notes people were reluctant or downright hostile to change, which I think really escalated to August 2, 2023. But at the same time, Farnam comes across as having no friends or allies, frequently quoting how unpopular she was and how much she wanted to change procedures and protocol, but not really working with people or their concerns.
The further mentions of tensions with the former USCP Chief and Spokeswoman, as well as terminated employees showed there was a breakdown in communication structures, but also showcased an attitude of "I was right," "I explained," "If they just listened," and "They attacked me." At times this memoir came across as more of a defense.
Even the recommendations at the end were unbalanced. A dedicated team to watch and respond to social media is doable compared to a lofty ideal of "everyone should be teaching their children extremists groups are bad."
April 8, 2024
This is another book that is essential reading regarding Jan 6th 2021 and the insurrection at the Capitol.
Also, a fascinating look into how the U.S. Capitol area intelligence and police services are organized and work (or do not!). The writing style is, as others have remarked, a bit inconsistent, but that does not take away from how informative and important this book is. A must read. Others have reviewed this in more detail and eloquence, and I'll let them speak for me too.
Also, a fascinating look into how the U.S. Capitol area intelligence and police services are organized and work (or do not!). The writing style is, as others have remarked, a bit inconsistent, but that does not take away from how informative and important this book is. A must read. Others have reviewed this in more detail and eloquence, and I'll let them speak for me too.
May 19, 2024
An interesting insider’s account of Jan 6 that seems more concerned with self-promotion and escaping blame for the intelligent failures of the insurrection.
September 8, 2024
Julie Farnam is brilliant and I highly recommend this book.
May 22, 2024
This was a super quick read (probably less than 4 hours). I found it at the library while I was picking up something else and the title and cover struck my eye. Aside from the frontmatter, its minimal time investment is one of the only positive things I have to say about it. Around 50 pages of Farnam's debut aren't resume and cover letter fodder. To her credit, it's a pretty solid 50 pages, but there isn't much to learn for the casual researcher of the January 6th Insurrection. Ultimately though, this fell too far into the trap of a politician writing her way to the next gig and righting alleged wrongs most of us never heard about in the first place.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews