The memory of Jan. 6, 2021, still hangs over Sean Gallagher. As a mob attacked the Capitol Building, Gallagher ’00 Lib—then a deputy chief in charge of the U.S. Capitol Police’s Protective Services Bureau, whose mission it is to protect dignitaries—avoided direct confrontation as he rushed members of Congress to secure locations on and off Capitol grounds. But approximately 140 officers were assaulted that day, according to the United States Department of Justice, 80 of them members of the Capitol Police.

“It was a dark day for Capitol Police,” he says. “The actions by the officers that day were heroic. Every second counted.”

In October 2023, Gallagher was named one of three assistant chiefs of the department. He heads up uniform operations, in which he oversees 1,600 officers who make up civil disturbance and tactical teams, such as the bomb squad, canine unit, and crisis negotiation team, and he helped his department hire more than 400 new officers in the last two years. When Congress gathers in January to certify electoral votes for the 2024 presidential election, Gallagher says, the Capitol Police will leave nothing to chance. “There are plans in place,” he says. “The officers are ready, and they’re confident we’re going to be in a very different position than we were three years ago.”

Gallagher was a rookie Capitol cop in training on Sept. 11, 2001. As the tragedies unfolded in Washington, D.C., New York, and Pennsylvania, department leadership canceled the remaining four weeks of training, and he and his fellow recruits were sworn into duty that night. Gallagher, who majored in criminal justice, says he was attracted to the work because he was enthralled by the professionalism of the Pennsylvania State Police. He chose the Capitol Police because of the department’s wide range of responsibilities. —Andy Faught