Concertina razor wire tops the 8-foot ‘non-scalable’ fence that surrounds the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, on Jan. 14, 2020.
Janita Kan – Epoch Times Jan 16, 2021
Fences with spiraling barbed wires, barricades, security checkpoints, and heavily armed guards are what you would expect in a military encampment for a warzone, not in downtown Washington D.C. But these are only some of the measures that have been put in place in preparation for President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration next week.
The heightened security in the nation’s capital is a telltale sign that authorities and officials are extremely worried that the civil unrest and violence observed on Jan. 6 may repeat next week.
Federal authorities have said they are tracking an “extensive” amount of “concerning online chatter” about potential threats to the inauguration, including armed protests, potential threats linked to the Capitol breach, and other types of potential threats.
The fortification of the city, particularly around the White House and U.S. Capitol, began over the past few days and is expected to ramp up in the lead up to Jan. 20.
Videos by reporters, workers, and residents in the area show street closures, workers putting up miles of barricades and fencing, shops and offices being boarded up, and an increased military presence. Military vehicles are seen parked on downtown streets, and armed guards are checking identification for people leaving and entering the city.
The locked-down city has been separated into Green and Red zones as part of the 2021 Presidential Inaugural Subcommittees’ transportation plan. The U.S. Secret Service has posted a list of all the street closures on its website, many of which began at 6 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 16, and are scheduled to end at 6 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 21. A number of bridges and interstate highways into Washington are also scheduled to close at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 19.
As many as 25,000 National Guard members from all 50 states, three territories, and Washington will be stationed in the city next week, the U.S. Army confirmed, which is an increase of 5,000 from numbers earlier this week. The number of guardsmen sent to Washington exceeds the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, which has been reduced to 2,500, the Pentagon said on Friday.
National Guardsmen were given the authorization to be armed on Jan. 12 in order to support law enforcement in the Capitol and the city, according to a statement by the D.C. National Guard. The authorization came after a request by federal authorities. Troops have been on 24-hour watch in the U.S. Capitol and off-duty troops have been photographed sleeping in building hallways.
The increased number of National Guard members will be there to supplement the already ramped up forces from the FBI, U.S. Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Capitol Police, and D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department.
Virginia National Guard soldiers march across the east from of the U.S. Capitol on their way to their guard posts in Washington on Jan. 16, 2021.
Before resigning from office, former acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said in a statement on Jan. 11 that he had instructed the U.S. Secret service to begin National Special Security Event operations for the inauguration from Jan. 13.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has also increased its security measures ahead of the inauguration. TSA Administrator David Pekoske said in a statement that the agency is currently processing hundreds of names with law enforcement agencies as part of a risk assessment. The agency will also add additional layers of security at all three D.C.-area airports.
“Those security layers include more law enforcement and explosives detection canine teams, random gate screening, increased number of Federal Air Marshals on certain flights, and additional Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) teams to provide greater security presence at certain rail transportation hubs,” Pekoske said.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser and security officials have also urged Americans to stay home to watch the inauguration virtually.
“We know this is the right request for our public safety and our public health,” she said on Friday.
D.C. officials estimate the inauguration will cost roughly $45 million due to the increased security measures. So far, Congress has approved $34.9 million, Christopher Rodriguez, director of D.C.’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, said in a press conference on Jan. 15.
Rodriguez said the amount was keeping in mind deficits that the District had run “because of the heightened number of first amendment demonstrations” seen throughout 2020.
In 2017, security for President Donald Trump’s inauguration cost around $27 million, according to Rodriguez—around $7 million more than the $19.995 million approved by Congress.
“Chad Wolf” is a crypto jew like the former Wolfe of the East German Stazi.
Last Post for me for a while.
America is finsihed, And No fairytale or propaganda will convince me otherwise.
I admit I was duped through Trump.
I wanted to believe he was going to clean slate.
I was skeptical.
Trump has destroyed the MAGA MOVEMENT.
Trump has destroyed Freedom.
Joe biden will initiate the biggest crackdown on them ever.
There is No one coming to save anyone.
I dont need saving for I am walking away.
Thank xxxx This Trump show is over.
40 years ago Ronald Reagan was sworn in, then made his address surrounded by bulletproof glass.
As the US gets more and more totalitarian, the political class has to spend more and more to protect itself.
At least the Praetorian Guards of the US know where they stand. Before long, like the earlier Roman version, they’ll just skip the formalities and choose their own presidents.
They can do no worse than the corrupt voting machines.
Why cant ome one come up with an idea to put all these dirty commie jews in Fema camps ?
oh orry one guy did and we all were lied to and went and killed him for the very jews who were bleeding our country dry financially
This Praetorian Guard is not so much to protect Biden or Harris who are replaceable, it is to protect the stolen election from being taken back. But it’s security on the cheap to use National Guard (who will not have lots of ammunition issued, nor the military organisation behind it, and whose State Governors may be footing the bill), or it’s cowardice to not call in the enlisted military. So these weekend soldiers might not provide the security the elite hope will stave off unrest.
One thing it does seem to indicate is that however much Biden and Trump bow to the same masters, those masters appear divided. A lot of this “theatre” may be may more real division than they dare let on.
I smell a jew behind this, always fermenting trouble between christian and muslim
I have mixed feelings about the Muslims.
The road map sometimes called the greater isreal project
is to give the whole of the Middle east to israel
7 islamic countries had to be robbed bombed and cleared of their people
and traitors here would accept them int the UK
NHS figures show we are a minority now in our own country.
These folk dont want to be here and they hate us for bombing their homes families and country.
Muslims hate the jews more that we do, some scripture says they will join with the christians to beat the evil of the jew.
Fake political parties like Britain first constantly point the finger at Muslims
never at who brought them all in.
What we should be doing is working with the muslims against the common enemy.
” the enemy of my enemy is my freind”
when the battle is won they can all go home
As many as 25,000 National Guard members from all 50 states, three territories, and Washington will be stationed in the city next week, the U.S. Army confirmed, which is an increase of 5,000 from numbers earlier this week. The number of guardsmen sent to Washington exceeds the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, which has been reduced to 2,500, the Pentagon said on Friday.
It would be bad, I mean really, really, really bad if one of them took a pop at POTUS.
This is a statement by the corrupt US establishment running things. They are saying they are in absolute control of everything – the military, the courts, the legislatures, your lives, everything – that the pretense of the people having anything to do with running the nation IS OVER. They could care less what we think about anything, even their Covid hoax. From now on we will just do what they say. We simply have to get over this idea that we have basic rights. Truth, freedom, justice, opportunity, what is essential, who is useful, who is to live, these things are for the elites and they and only they will decide what really matters. We just have to obey, stay home, wear our masks, stay apart, take the vaccinations, until they come and get us.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, the game plan of the Judeo-Communist State is now changing from foreign ‘Islamic terrorists’ to domestic ‘white wing’ extremists. This was the plan all along. The Muslims were simply a phony mask of the State, until they could take if off & proclaim who their real enemy is: ‘white patriots/fascists’. In the future, they’ll probably stage a false flag ‘attack’ & then blame it on them, like they did on 9/11 or 7/7 with the Muslims. Now that the Communist Party (calls itself ‘Democrat’, to dupe the goyim) is in power, they can remove the mask completely.
I don’t know why, but depression is the funniest thing in the world.