Only 4,000 soldiers from National Guard units across the United States have so far been earmarked for deployment in Washington D.C. for the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president on January 20.
This number compares to the almost 8,000 National Guard troops deployed during the inauguration of Donald Trump in 2017. National Guard senior officers say the attenuated number is due to COVID-19 restrictions.
On the other hand, they reassure the public as many as 7,000 men might eventually be deployed if threats to disrupt Biden's inauguration made by armed right-wing groups such as the Proud Boys and Republican Party sympathizers get out of hand.
"Right now, we have commitments from multiple states for over 4,000 people, but that could easily go up to 7,000, or it could even decrease just depending on what the inauguration will look like," said Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Craig Clapper, spokesman for the District of Columbia National Guard.
"At this very moment, we don't know exactly what it's going to look like."
Clapper said guardsmen would assist D.C. Park Police and other law enforcement with crowd management, traffic control, emergency response services, and communications support.
"We do street blockings, entry control points for certain areas ... a lot of it is just crowd control," according to Clapper.
"Normally for inaugurations, we are there a handful of days before ... we have actually already had some personnel come in."
Pro-Trump groups will also stage protests in D.C. on January 6, the day the U.S. Congress will conduct a formal count of Electoral College votes and officially declare Biden the winner of the November 3 election and U.S. president. Trump's supporters have promised to stage rallies to disrupt Biden's inauguration.
Despite these warnings, Guard officials don't expect any protests on inauguration day. They said their men would be ready for any trouble, however. The District of Columbia National Guard is planning for all contingencies.
"We always have the security aspect," said Clapper. "If something were to happen in terms of an event that would require law enforcement, we are kind of there in a support role."
"[In] no inaugurations past have we had to go into any kind of law enforcement role. With this inauguration, we don't anticipate that either, but we still plan for increased numbers of personnel in the area as a just-in-case scenario."
Senior officers of the U.S. military still worry about Trump calling armed right-wing militias and pro-Trump paramilitaries to disrupt the transition and bring violence to Washington D.C. They also agree there is zero chance the military leadership will involve itself in any scheme to reverse the verified election results if Trump does declare martial law to stay in power.
