National Guard troops will remain around the U.S. Capitol building until a new security system is in place, Democratic Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan said Tuesday.
Ryan, chairman of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee, said in a virtual press conference said that troops are still around the U.S. Capitol building due to threats “around the impeachment and just generally, given what’s happened, and the fact that we don’t have a reset for the security apparatus around the Capitol building. We are in the process of figuring that out.”
“How can we learn everything we need to learn to reset the posture on Capitol Hill?” Ryan asked. “We’re not going to let the National Guard go home, or we’re not going to create an unsafe environment for the country’s business, until we have that figured out. I don’t think it will take super long to figure that out, get the best practices, get the investments that we need to make.”
Capitol Police told lawmakers on Tuesday that the force was not adequately prepared for the Jan. 6 mob attack and said that there must be better security going forward.
“The Capitol’s security infrastructure must change,” acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda D. Pittman said in prepared testimony.
Military officials have repeatedly dodged answering questions about why National Guard troops remain in the nation’s capital.
Ryan said in the press conference that Capitol Police officers were “full of confusion” about what to do and where to go during the attack, and they had been instructed not to use lethal force unless life was threatened.
“What I can tell you is, in terms of what [the FBI is] briefing us is, there are several upcoming events,” acting Army Secretary John Whitley told reporters Monday.
National Guard Bureau Chief Gen. Dan Hokanson and D.C. National Guard Maj. Gen. William Walker said that 5,000 National Guard troops could stay in Washington, D.C., until mid-March.
