Officials in the United States are worried about an insider attack during the inauguration of future president Joe Biden. The threat means that the background of all 25,000 National Guard members attending the Washington event is being screened by the FBI.
After the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, fears of an incident during the inauguration on Wednesday has increased. Press agency AP writes about the unrest that is now among the security services involved in the event.
A senior army official tells the news agency that security personnel should be alert to a possible internal threat. He warned that executives should be aware of problems within their ranks as the inauguration approaches. No worrying events have occurred so far.
“Among the people who stormed the Capitol, there were also a handful of policemen and soldiers,” says correspondent Lucas Waagmeester in the NOS Radio 1 News. “So they’re going to run all those troops through the databases one more time.” In addition, the soldiers are trained to recognize deviant behavior among colleagues.
The 25,000 soldiers currently deployed are about three times as many as during a normal inauguration. The FBI now wants to screen all those names extra, before they come near the stage where Biden and Harris are sworn in with heavy weapons. “It really marks the tense atmosphere and nervousness surrounding the inauguration that America has yet to go through in the next three days.”
Little interest in protests
The unrest expected yesterday did not materialize. The FBI warned last week that authorities in the United States were to be prepared for armed protests in state parliaments. That is why a number of states scaled up, but there were no major demonstrations. Only a handful of armed militias were seen in several states. The police force that had been brought in was, in most cases, much greater than the number of Trump supporters. There was no disturbance.
Some demonstrators were seen in Michigan, among others:
“It remained calm, but there are concerns for the coming days,” says Waagmeester. “There has now been some fog about what those militias still want or can do for the inauguration of Biden next Wednesday,” said Waagmeester. “They are aware that they are being watched closely, so they look for other ways to communicate with each other.
It is now quiet and safe in the centers of the state capitals. “But you can’t board up the whole country,” says the correspondent. “You cannot close all government buildings with fences and soldiers.” There is now a warning that these groups may also emerge outside the militarized zones. “So there is a very tense atmosphere with three days until the swearing-in,” said Waagmeester.
