Protests are being planned Wednesday when the newly installed 117th Congress will count the votes in Joe Biden’s Electoral College win, the last step in certifying the 78-year-old Democrat’s White House victory and setting the stage for his Jan. 20 inauguration as the nation’s 46th president.
Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller has approved a request from the city of Washington, D.C., for a limited number of National Guard force to help local police and fire personnel with crowd and traffic control.
According to a U.S. defense official, Mayor Muriel Bowser put in a request on New Year’s Eve to have Guard members on the streets Tuesday through Thursday. The official said the D.C. National Guard members will be used for traffic control and other assistance, but they will not be armed or wearing body armor.
On Monday, Bowser asked people to stay away from downtown D.C. and avoid confrontations with anyone who is “looking for a fight.” But, she warned, “we will not allow people to incite violence, intimidate our residents or cause destruction in our city.”
There will be about 115 Guard troops on duty at any one time in the city, said the defense official, who provided details on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The official said Guard members will be used to set up traffic control points around the city and to stand with District police officers at all the city’s Metro stops.
Acting Police Chief Robert Contee said Guard troops will also be used for some crowd management. “Some of our intelligence certainly suggests there will be increased crowd sizes,” said Contee, adding, “There are people intent on coming to our city armed.”
Because D.C. does not have a governor, the designated commander of the city’s National Guard is Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy. Any D.C. requests for Guard deployments have to be approved by him.
The defense official said there will be no active-duty military troops in the city, and the U.S. military will not provide any aircraft or intelligence. The D.C. Guard will provide specialized teams that will be prepared to respond to any chemical or biological incident. But the official said there will be no D.C. Guard members on the National Mall or at the U.S. Capitol.
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