A Guard spokesman declined to say whether law enforcement officers informed units at the Capitol about an IED threat.
“Our primary purpose is to provide support to local authorities,” said spokeswoman Tracy O’Grady Walsh, noting that the guard’s mission during the inauguration is to provide crowd management, traffic control, parking coordination and medical and logistical support to local authorities. “The safety of the public is our top priority.”
At the request of the DC Metropolitan Police Department and other civilian authorities, up to 20,000 guards may be stationed around DC in the coming days. On Tuesday night, hundreds of armed guards deployed to the Capitol before lawmakers began a second round of indictments against President Donald Trump.
The people familiar with the matter are not clear whether the national guards are preparing to respond themselves to potential casualties.
Guard members are trained in the use of lethal and non-lethal force, the use of protective equipment and ‘decalcification techniques’, which are standard for responding to civilian disturbances, O’Grady Walsh said. Some Guard units, including Guard fighting engineers, infantry and military police units, usually train for IED response prior to overseas deployments, but not all guards are so trained.
“The most important element in defeating IEDs is knowing what to look for, knowing where to look, and understanding how to quickly defuse them or mark them for eventual destruction,” the retired U.S. Army said. General Mark Hertling said and noted that IED training mainly involves’ early reconnaissance of expected routes by drones and engineers and scouts, the use of intelligence to identify potential locations of IEDs that would cause the most damage or destruction, and network interference. plan and predict. ‘
An unclassified information bulletin compiled by the US Secret Service obtained by POLITICO has warned that at least one right-wing extremist group, Patriot Actions for America, is organizing and encouraging a violent protest at the Capitol on January 16.
The bulletin, which relies primarily on open source information from social media and was first reported by The Daily Beast, said law enforcement officers are also following a separate “Million Militia march” planned by two other groups for the Inauguration Day itself, warns that ‘although no civil disobedience has been confirmed, organizers encouraged participants to bring weapons to the event by using images of weapons on promotional material for the event. The group claims that they will not attack, but defend. ”
Elected President Biden was briefed on Wednesday by senior FBI and Secret Service officials on the threats surrounding the inauguration, and will continue to receive daily briefings on “security and operational preparations to ensure the transition runs smoothly,” Biden said. transition team said in a statement. .
Biden’s national security team “is working with the current government to gather as much information as possible about the threat picture and the preparations being made to fend off and defend violent interruptions or attacks,” the statement said.