The 9,700 National Guard soldiers protecting the U.S. Capitol from “domestic violent extremists” face increasing pressure to return home as COVID infections sideline hundreds of troops and freezing temperatures descend on Washington.
The deployment threatens to become yet another hot-button political issue, with some Republican lawmakers beginning to raise doubts about any need for their presence. GOP members could feel pressure from conservative opinion-makers like Fox News evening host Tucker Carlson, who used part of his Wednesday show to call what the Guard is doing in the nation’s capital an “occupation.”
“There are extremist groups out there,” National Guard Bureau spokesman Major Matt Murphy told the Washington Examiner Thursday.
The Department of Homeland Security warned in a Wednesday bulletin that ideologically motivated extremists could incite or commit violence in the coming weeks, motivated by Trump’s loss of power and President Biden’s successful inauguration.
Murphy said the guard members on duty in the capital city until mid-March performing security and law enforcement missions are trained and ready to respond.
“There’s been a consistent dialogue about dividing the country and radical groups being brought to the forefront on the Right and the Left,” he added. “Certainly, the National Guard is aware.”
Here are three things to watch as the deployment stretches on.
COVID and a cold snap
The remaining troops from 39 states and several U.S. territories face increasing pressure to stand down and return home. Those calls from politicians and pundits, and grousing by Guard members to reporters, come as many of the troops have fallen ill and all are dealing with a mid-Atlantic cold snap.
The Guard force deployed around Washington has suffered some 200 COVID-19 infections, and temperatures in the capital are due to drop below freezing in the coming days.
Those frigid temperatures, along with possible sleet and snow, might ward off protesters, but those conditions and winter winds will also whip against the parkas of heavily clothed Guard members patrolling 7-foot nonscalable fences.
“Specific, credible threat”?
Some members of Congress and governors question if there even is a threat anymore.
“My point today is, the force posture always needs to be geared toward the actual threat,” Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton told Fox News personality Sean Hannity on Wednesday.
“Now, after the inauguration is over, Nancy Pelosi still has 5,000 troops at the Capitol, with razor wire and fences at the Capitol,” he said. “I’m still not aware of any specific, credible threat to the Capitol that warrants that kind of force posture.”
He added: “We have hundreds of these National Guard troops coming down with coronavirus. They need to be going home. If there is a threat in the future, we can bring in federal law enforcement.”
Senators on the Left are taking the opposite tack.
“Americans ought to be very, very aware and alarmed about the dangerous threat posed by these racist and extremist violent groups,” Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal told CNN on Friday.
Blumenthal called groups known to participate in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, including the Proud Boys, Three Percenters, and Oath Keepers, the “greatest threat” to internal national security.
“I give thumbs up to the Biden administration,” he added. “They are, in fact, telling us the truth about this threat and about the need to counter it.”
The FBI again declined to respond to a request by the Washington Examiner Thursday to describe the threat assessment in the capital.
On Monday, acting Army Secretary John Whitley told reporters that FBI briefings to the Guard had indicated that “malicious actors” may incite violence during “First Amendment-protected protests.”
“We are posturing our forces to be able to respond to those threats if they emerge,” he told reporters.
But now, some 200 Guard members are in quarantine after contracting COVID-19, adding to the tally of some 150 Capitol Police officers also sidelined by the virus.
“Occupational pursuits”
Still, Murphy said, the Guard expects to retain some 7,000 Guard members into the weekend, despite orders by the governors of Texas, Florida, and other states to bring their Guard members home.
After several Guard members voiced their frustration to the Washington Examiner Monday as to when they would be allowed to return, Murphy said the citizen soldiers would not be obligated to stay on duty in the capital.
“The National Guard does not interfere with an individual’s civilian occupational pursuits or if they have family emergencies,” he said. “Some have obligations where they need to get back, and others are more flexible.”
Despite pressure to return, and orders by some governors, the mission to retain some 5,000 Guard members into mid-March in support of the Secret Service, Park Police, Capitol Police, and Metropolitan Police Department will be met, the Guard spokesman said.
“The National Guard will always meet the requirements where they can,” Murphy said. “That’s the purpose of our organization.”
