Christopher Wray, director of the FBI, warned Thursday that authorities are monitoring calls for “potential armed protests” in Washington DC and the nation’s capitals ahead of the inauguration of President Joe Biden on January 20.
Top national security officials outlined their preparations for the inauguration during an information session with Vice President Mike Pence. Wray said the FBI is seeing an extensive amount of online chats ahead of the event, which will take place just two weeks after supporters of President Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol in an unprecedented security breach.
“Anyone who plans or attempts violence in the coming weeks should count on a visit,” Wray said during the briefing. “Together with our partners here in the district and across the country, we will do everything in our power to ensure a smooth transition of power in the coming days.”
Authorities stepped up security efforts before the inauguration in light of the riots, and they deployed about 21,000 members of the National Guard to Washington, DC, closed streets and erected security fences. The FBI has established a national commando post at its headquarters to assess potential threats, as well as command posts in its dozens of field offices across the country.
The FBI, according to Wray, identified more than 200 suspects in its investigation into the Capitol riot and made more than 100 arrests.
“We are looking at individuals who may have an eye for repeating the same kind of violence we saw last week,” he said.
Wray added that the FBI has begun sending out relevant information about potential threats ‘as soon as possible’ to its law enforcement partners across the country.
Pete Gaynor, the acting secretary of Homeland Security, said preparations had been made for more than three years to ensure a safe inauguration. The presence of law enforcement officers “covers most of downtown Washington DC,” in collaboration with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the FBI and the Secret Service.
“We are very confident in our security plan,” Gaynor said.
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Pence, who chaired the security briefing, reiterated his promise that the outgoing government would facilitate a smooth transfer of power despite security threats.
“The American people can be confident that from now on our government will work every day until January 20 to ensure an orderly transition,” Pence said. “We will continue to work with all the agencies represented here, and the tens of thousands of men and women who work 24 hours a day to ensure a safe inauguration for our elected president, for our elected vice president and for all the American people. ‘