Heightened Security in Place for Donald Trump's Inauguration
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“Nothing has really changed,” Smith told reporters.
“The police officers that were committed and dedicated to coming here, we’ll be flexible in how we’ll adjust (their) movement. … So, we will still have police officers in places and spaces around our city as we initially planned.”
Some of those officers, Smith said, will still be assigned to the original parade route in anticipation that some people will try to get a glimpse of the presidential motorcade as it goes by.
U.S. Capitol Police said they also anticipate having officers on the periphery of the West Front of the Capitol – now closed off with the inauguration moved indoors – ready to direct ticketed guests who will no longer be able to attend.
In addition, the inaugural security contingent, which includes the U.S. Secret Service, the FBI, U.S. Capitol Police, Washington Metropolitan Police, and some 7,800 members of the U.S. Army and Air National Guard, will all be coordinated from a command center linked into an expanded network of cameras keeping watch on the city.
And though security measures in some areas, including along parts of the National Mall, have been relaxed, officials said there will be plenty of reminders for anyone coming to Washington that this is no ordinary time.
“They will see tactical teams,” McCool said, during an earlier briefing with reporters last week.
“They'll see, officers and agents on rooftops, they’ll see checkpoints. They'll see road closures and barriers in concrete.”
Even before the inauguration was moved inside, officials had been preparing for what they described as “a higher threat environment,” cautioning the security plans for this inauguration were already more robust than in the past.
"The biggest threat, I think, for all of us remains the lone actor,” said Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger. “That threat … remains the biggest justification for us being on this heightened stage state of alert.”
