在美国国会大厦的致命围攻中，第一波逮捕集中在容易得手的目标上。1月6日，支持特朗普的暴徒中有数十人在社交媒体上公开吹嘘自己的行为，并在国家新闻机构直播的令人震惊的镜头中被抓获。
但是在暴乱发生六个月后，司法部仍在追捕数十名暴乱者，尽管已经被捕的500多人中的第一个已经认罪。这场斗争反映出调查的规模之大，以及面对一些共和党议员越来越多地努力改写当天发生的事情，当局仍面临的艰巨工作。
还没有被抓住的人包括:在混战前一天晚上在共和党和民主党全国委员会办公室外放置两枚管状炸弹的人，以及许多被指控袭击执法人员或对记者实施暴力和威胁的人。美国联邦调查局网站寻求有关参与国会大厦暴力事件的人的信息，其中包括大约300人的900多张照片，这些照片被标记为“身份不明”
部分问题是当局在1月6日逮捕的人很少。相反，他们专注于清除袭击警察、破坏历史财产、搜查大厅寻找他们威胁要杀害的议员的大规模暴徒成员的建筑物。联邦调查人员被迫回去追捕参与者。
自那以后，联邦调查局从公众那里收到了无数的线索和数字媒体。但是，一个提示只是一个艰苦过程的第一步——包括搜查令和采访——以确认人们的身份和他们在起义中的存在，从而将案件提交法院。当局没有许多袭击者的记录，因为这是他们第一次触犯法律。
“这些人中的大多数以前从未出现在雷达屏幕上，”弗兰克·蒙托亚说，他是一名退休的联邦调查局特工，领导着该局在西雅图和檀香山的外地办事处。“你看电影，雷达屏幕上出现一个名字，他们知道所有的化名和他最后一次吃晚饭的地方，所有这些都只需点击一个按钮。不幸的是，现实并非如此。”
联邦调查局得到了“煽动猎人”的帮助，这些“煽动猎人”是纸上谈兵的侦探，他们联手确定了一些最难以捉摸的嫌疑人，利用众包仔细研究了袭击中的大量视频和照片。
曾帮助组建一个名为“深州犬”的煽动叛乱猎人组织的商业顾问弗勒斯·罗杰斯(Forrest Rogers)表示，该组织已根据其收集的证据向联邦调查局报告了大约100名嫌疑人的可能身份。
有时候，一件与众不同的衣服可以帮助团队进行搭配。罗杰斯说，在一个案例中，一名妇女在1月6日携带一个独特的苹果手机盒子，在早些时候的抗议中被拍到与同一个盒子在一起。
“它在寻求正义，”他说。“这是我国历史上前所未有的事情。”罗杰斯问:“你还有哪里有几千人犯罪，然后立即分散到美国各地?”
约翰·斯科特-雷尔顿是多伦多大学公民实验室的高级研究员，他一直在与记者和其他人合作，利用数字线索识别嫌疑人。他说，虽然人们对当天犯罪的“小鱼”知之甚多，但需要对有组织团体领导人的行动有更深入的了解。
他说:“我们都需要在一个地方，我们可以就1月6日发生的事情进行对话，而不仅仅是出现在国会大厦的一群受一系列意识形态驱使的人。
被通缉的人包括许多被指控暴力袭击警察的人。联邦调查局发布的一段视频显示，一名身份不明的男子用警棍袭击警察。在另一个案例中，一名男子撕掉了一名警察的防毒面具，这名警察在被愤怒的暴徒挤到门口时痛苦地尖叫。
在某些情况下，社交媒体平台已经交出了指控的帖子，被告试图删除这些帖子，因为他们对围攻的欢欣鼓舞让位于对被捕的恐惧。攻击者自己的家人、朋友或熟人经常向当局通风报信。
在一个案例中，联邦调查局使用面部对比软件在他女朋友的Instagram账户上找到了一名嫌疑人。特工们随后秘密行动，秘密记录了这个人的工作，并把他录了下来，承认自己在人群中，他称之为“有趣”。
“你识别的这些人越多——可能通过搜查令和社交媒体交流——你就越能识别其他人，”汤姆·奥康纳说，他在2019年离开调查局之前曾作为一名特工专注于反恐。“那些被逮捕的人将有机会合作，并确定其他涉案人员。”
美国联邦调查局悬赏高达10万美元，征集导致1月5日在华盛顿制造管道炸弹的人被捕的信息。画面显示，一名身穿灰色连帽运动衫、戴着口罩和手套的人似乎将其中一枚爆炸物放置在民主党全国委员会外的长椅下，而在炸弹被放置在共和党全国委员会附近的小巷里之前，该人正在散步。目前尚不清楚这些炸弹是否与策划叛乱有关。
司法部官员说，逮捕参与叛乱的所有人仍然是当务之急。当局最近逮捕了第100名被控袭击执法部门的人，也是第一名被控袭击媒体人员的人——检察官称，一名男子袭击了一名摄影师。
“他们会找到他们的，”前联邦调查局刑事、网络、反应和服务处执行助理主任小罗伯特·安德森说。“我不在乎需要多长时间。如果他们在找他们，他们就会找到他们。”
1月6日，十多名被告已经认罪，其中包括誓言守护者民兵组织的两名成员，他们承认与其他极端分子合谋阻止认证乔·拜登总统的胜利。
迄今为止达成的大多数其他认罪协议都是针对被告仅因非法进入国会大厦而被控轻罪的案件。唯一被判刑的被告是一名印第安纳州的妇女，她承认了自己的轻罪，并在监狱里没有受到任何惩罚。
Hunt for Capitol attackers still on 6 months after Jan. 6
The first waves of arrests in the deadly siege at the U.S. Capitol focused on the easy targets. Dozens in the pro-Trump mob openly bragged about their actions on Jan. 6 on social media and were captured in shocking footage broadcast live by national news outlets.
But six months after the insurrection, the Justice Department is still hunting for scores of rioters, even as the first of more than 500 people already arrested have pleaded guilty. The struggle reflects the massive scale of the investigation and the grueling work still ahead for authorities in the face of an increasing effort by some Republican lawmakers to rewrite what happened that day.
Among those who still haven't been caught: the person who planted two pipe bombs outside the offices of the Republican and Democratic national committees the night before the melee, as well as many people accused of attacks on law enforcement officers or violence and threats against journalists. The FBI website seeking information about those involved in the Capitol violence includes more than 900 pictures of roughly 300 people labeled “unidentified.”
Part of the problem is that authorities made very few arrests on Jan. 6. They were focused instead on clearing the building of members of the massive mob that attacked police, damaged historic property and combed the halls for lawmakers they threatened to kill. Federal investigators are forced to go back and hunt down participants.
The FBI has since received countless tips and pieces of digital media from the public. But a tip is only the first step of a painstaking process — involving things like search warrants and interviews — to confirm people's identities and their presence at the insurrection in order to bring a case in court. And authorities have no record of many of the attackers because this was their first run-in with the law.
“Most of these people never showed up on the radar screen before,” said Frank Montoya Jr., a retired FBI special agent who led the bureau’s field offices in Seattle and Honolulu. “You watch the movies and a name comes up on the radar screen and they know all the aliases and the last place he ate dinner, all with a click of a button. Unfortunately, that’s not how it is in reality.”
The FBI has been helped by "sedition hunters,” or armchair detectives who have teamed up to identify some of the most elusive suspects, using crowdsourcing to pore over the vast trove of videos and photos from the assault.
Forrest Rogers, a business consultant who helped form a group of sedition hunters called “Deep State Dogs,” said the group has reported the possible identities of about 100 suspects to the FBI based on evidence it collected.
Sometimes, a distinctive article of clothing helps the group make a match. In one case, a woman carrying a unique iPhone case on Jan. 6 had been photographed with the same case at an earlier protest, Rogers said.
“It’s seeking justice," he said. “This is something that’s unprecedented in the history of our country.” Rogers asked, “Where else have you had several thousands of people who commit a crime and then immediately disperse all over the United States?"
John Scott-Railton is a senior researcher at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto who has been collaborating with journalists and others to identify suspects using digital clues. He said that while much is known about the “small fish” who committed crimes that day, a deeper understanding is needed of the actions of organized group leaders.
"We all need to be in a place where we can have conversations about what Jan. 6th was that go beyond a bunch of individuals motivated by a set of ideologies who showed up at the Capitol,” he said.
Those being sought include many accused of violent attacks on officers. One video released by the FBI shows an unidentified man attacking officers with a baton. In another, a man is seen ripping the gas mask off an officer who screamed in pain as he was being crushed into a doorway by the angry mob.
In some cases, social media platforms have turned over incriminating posts that defendants tried to delete after their gleeful celebrations of the siege gave way to fears of being arrested. Often, the attackers' own family, friends or acquaintances tipped off authorities.
In one case, the FBI used facial comparison software to find a suspect on his girlfriend’s Instagram account. Agents then went undercover, secretly recorded the man at work and got him on tape admitting to being in the crowd, which he described as “fun.”
“The more of these people you identify — potentially through search warrants and social media communications — you're going to be able to identify others," said Tom O'Connor, who focused on counterterrorism as a special agent before leaving the bureau in 2019. “Those people who have been arrested will then be given the opportunity to cooperate and identify other persons involved.”
The FBI has offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible for planting the pipe bombs in Washington on Jan. 5. Footage shows a person in a gray hooded sweatshirt, a mask and gloves appearing to place one of the explosives under a bench outside the Democratic National Committee and the person walking in an alley near the Republican National Committee before the bomb was placed there. It remains unclear whether the bombs were related to planning for the insurrection.
Justice Department officials say arresting everyone involved in the insurrection remains a top priority. Authorities recently arrested the 100th person accused of assaulting law enforcement as well as the first person accused of assaulting a member of the press — a man prosecutors say tackled a cameraman.
“They will find them," said Robert Anderson Jr., former executive assistant director of the FBI's Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch. "I don’t care how long it takes. If they are looking for them, they will find them.”
More than a dozen Jan. 6 defendants have pleaded guilty, including two members of the Oath Keepers militia group who admitted to conspiring with other extremists to block the certification of President Joe Biden's victory.
Most of the other plea deals reached so far are in cases where defendants were charged only with misdemeanors for illegally entering the Capitol. The only defendant who has been sentenced is an Indiana woman who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was spared any time behind bars.
