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I'm curious about the changes to security planning around the Inauguration that surely must be going on right now. Given where it happens, the Capitol Police would usually be the largest part of the arrangements I'm assuming. But the chief of the Capitol Police has resigned, and there has to be like a huge loss of confidence in that agency's planning and coordination abilities right now. Obviously the Secret Service will be there, but their gig is watching for snipers and rapid extraction when the stuff goes down - like we saw with Pence in the Capitol - not defending an area from a crowd. I mean, I'm sure Capitol Police will be present; but I wonder if someone else will be in charge.
By the way, it's worth a post to bring attention to how good a job the Secret Service did on the 6th protecting Pence. Nobody anywhere is really talking about it, but that's like literally a sign of how well they did - nobody even knows where Pence was between the moment they yanked him out of the Senate chamber and when he finally reappeared back in Congress once they restarted. Was he still in the building? Was he still in the city? Who knows. That's pro level.
Fears over Biden inauguration security mount after US Capitol attack
Security levels being ramped up significantly for Biden’s swearing-in as some warn of ‘persistent challenge over the next months’
The numbers attending will be greatly reduced from normal, of course, which will be a great assistance, but it's still a huge concern.
The report quotes Michael Chertoff, George W Bush's homeland security secretary:
What Donald Trump did was a betrayal of public trust and a violation of his oath of office. There’s no question that what we saw this week was incited by the rhetoric that he has been using now for weeks and that inspired and mobilised extremist rightwingers and conspiracy theorists.”
Chertoff likened the riot at the Capitol to 9/11. “On 9/11 we worried that one of the planes was going to hit the Capitol building. In this case, the Capitol building was hit. It was domestic terror, and absolutely shocking.”
[....]
“There is going to be a persistent challenge over the next months, depending on how active Donald Trump is when he’s out of office, in terms of domestic terrorism inspired by him directly or by rightwing extremist and conspiracy groups. This is going to be the security challenge for the foreseeable future.”
















