Despite unclear threat, National Guard protects Capitol in snowy conditions

Snowy conditions are not keeping thousands of National Guard troops from protecting the Capitol, and neither are unanswered questions about whether officials have detected plans for a possible repeat of right-wing extremist violence.

"We currently have just over 7,000 soldiers and airmen assigned to the National Guard mission in Washington, D.C., and we remain on track to draw down to 5,000 through mid-March," D.C. National Guard spokesman Capt. Tinashe Machona confirmed to the Washington Examiner on Monday.

The FBI again declined to comment on the threat assessment in Washington that is used by law enforcement as the rationale for maintaining a Guard presence in the capital nearly equal in strength to previous presidential inaugurations.

Members of Congress have called on the Guard to be sent home in recent days, while some governors have ordered their troops to depart Washington.

Some Guard members have grumbled to reporters that they do not know why they remain in Washington, away from their day jobs and families, even as some units are heading home.

Guard members who spoke to the Washington Examiner just days earlier were weary of their uncertain mission length, which could keep Guard members on duty until March 14.

Again, the D.C. National Guard refused to describe those facilities other than to underscore that Guard members stay at hotels when not patrolling the Capitol.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/despite-unclear-threat-national-guard-protects-capitol-in-snowy-conditions