Officials in the nation’s capital may close bridges and roads leading into Washington, D.C., in the coming days in an unprecedented move to further secure the city ahead of Inauguration Day.
“The United States Secret Service is considering some other closures inbound to Washington, and I think they will announce those when those decisions have been made,” Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, said at a press conference downtown Friday afternoon.
“There are still negotiations as the mayor indicated … as to when the bridges across the river will be closed, when they will be reopened, which specific bridges those will be,” said Matt Miller, special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s Washington field office.
The move would be the latest in a series of actions to secure the city ahead of President-elect Biden’s being sworn into office following an attempt by hundreds of supporters of President Trump to overtake the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Federal officials from the Department of Homeland Security, Washington Police Department, and local city officials said drivers can expect to be stopped and searched at checkpoints once a perimeter is set up within the city.
Expect searches at designated vehicle checkpoints
A total of 10 bridges connect downtown Washington to Maryland, Virginia, and other parts of the district, and dozens of other land roads connect Washington with neighboring states.
“Any vehicle, once the secure perimeter is in place [and] they’ve entered one of the designated checkpoints, will be searched for explosives, weapons, and other prohibited items,” said Miller.
The Metropolitan Police Department and Secret Service’s Technical Security Division will oversee checkpoints and may be aided by the National Guard explosive ordinance specialists, pending availability.
Secret Service will soon release the 12th version of its perimeter map for this inauguration. The map breaks down roads into red areas, where no vehicles are allowed, and green areas, which are open to the public but under close watch. They did not reveal how far those regions may be extended in light of forthcoming bridge closures.
Concerns for the rest of the district
Miller addressed residents’ concerns that the heavy focus on troops, police, and security on federal facilities may leave residential and private property vulnerable.
“We have so many assets inside the Penn Quarter-Capitol area that there is the potential for people to go elsewhere, whether it’s back to their state capitals or to other parts of the city,” said Miller. “We can’t create a fortress and allow the rest of the city to suffer in services, whether it’s fire, EMS, or public safety. … The city should not be concerned that they will not, that they will be left out.”
National and local law enforcement will be monitoring local threats and sharing intelligence in real-time with police.
“The influx of federal resources that you see into our city certainly allows for MPD to be agile or nimble in terms of our response posture to any threats that could, that may occur in any of our communities,” said Contee. “We will have assets prestationed throughout different communities, ready to respond and a contingency of federal support, if need be, to respond to any threats that they may present themselves.”
Two protests allowed to continue
National Park Service officials will allow two protests to take place in Washington next week despite Bowser’s request that it cancel all permitted First Amendment events in the city. The two allowed will be held on Pennsylvania Avenue NW, the road that connects the U.S. Capitol to the White House, at the Navy Memorial and John Marshall Park.
NPS National Mall and Memorial Parks Superintendent Jeff Reinbold said each gathering will be capped at 100 people but did not reveal how park police will respond if more than 100 people show up at the events. Park police will escort attendees into the event perimeter and screen everyone through metal detectors to ensure no one inside has a gun, knife, or other weapons. Reingold did not reveal the organizers behind the two permitted protests.
Backup police flown in from West Coast
Police from across the country, even as far away as California, have been deployed to assist federal and local law enforcement in the nation’s capital, Washington officials said. Law enforcement from Baltimore, Chicago, Houston, Denver, New Orleans, New York City, and San Francisco will be deployed, as of Friday.
The District of Columbia had requested $34.9 million to cover costs associated with hosting the inauguration but asked for an additional $10 million in response to racial equality demonstrations over the summer and last week’s Capitol insurrection. The additional funding has not been approved, though the federal assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency was approved.
