20,000 National Guard Flood DC for the Presidential Inauguration

At least 20,000 National Guard members are expected to be in Washington D.C. for President-elect Joe Biden‘s inauguration, which is roughly four times more than the amount of troops currently in Afghanistan and Iraq combined.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee said, “I think you can expect to see somewhere, upwards beyond 20,000 members of the National Guard that will be here in the footprint of the District of Columbia.”

When asked if he has ever seen law enforcement reinforcement to this magnitude in D.C., Contee said “not at this level, no.”

Contee also noted that since the inauguration was designated as a national special security event, the final numbers of National Guard members deployed in the city “will be provided from the United States Secret Service.”

The 20,000 National Guard members expected in the city is an increase of 5,000, as 15,000 were previously deployed to the city by the Department of Defense earlier this week.

As the Military Times noted on Tuesday, the 15,000 National Guard members deployed earlier this week was about twice the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, due to a drawdown to 2,500 troops in both nations. The drawdown was announced by Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller in November, when he said that by January 15, Afghanistan will reduce from 4,500 troops and Iraq from 3,000.

With the increase in National Guard members on Wednesday, the inauguration will have around four times more troops than those in Afghanistan and Iraq combined. Read Full Story >