Keeping close watch
Security concerns ride high in days between Capitol riot, inauguration
The leader of the FBI Boston Division on Tuesday said there were no specific threats of armed protests in four area states ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, but warned that “intelligence can change by the second.”
The potential for armed protests in all 50 U.S. state capitals comes in the wake of a pro-Trump violent mob storming the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday. Five people died during the attack, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer.
As of Tuesday, there were no specific threats in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Maine, according to FBI Boston Division Special Agent in Charge Joseph Bonavolonta.
“We are currently not in receipt of any credible information regarding violent activity in or around the (state) capitol buildings, or anywhere else for that matter, connected to the events of Jan. 6 or the upcoming inauguration,” he said at the FBI Boston Division’s Chelsea headquarters.
“However, I want to be clear in that intelligence can change by the second,” he said, adding, “Our federal, state and local partners are fully in sync with one another, and if there were any relevant information it would immediately be disseminated.”
Boston Police Commissioner William Gross urged people “to be our eyes and ears.”
“We’re going to rely on our state, local and federal partnership, as well as our members of the city of Boston and our Commonwealth to keep us in the know,” he said.
When asked about security around the Massachusetts State House, the commissioner said, “You will definitely see our police presence.”
Gov. Charlie Baker said with “no known threats” facing Massachusetts, he has no plans to activate the National Guard.
“There are no known threats with respect to the State House or any other public building at this time in Massachusetts, and we will continue to monitor and track the information that’s out there, and we will be appropriately prepared for anything that might happen,” Baker said during a press briefing in Worcester.
The governor has activated the National Guard on at least three occasions this summer and fall during Black Lives Matter and other protests.
Meanwhile, discussions are “ongoing” between state, local and federal law enforcement over the possibility of using facial recognition technology to identify any rioters from Massachusetts who participated in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, Baker said.
“One of the reasons I was so aggressive about maintaining access to the facial recognition technology was because I believed it was an important tool for dealing with issues like the one that took place in Washington last week,” Baker said.
No Bay State resident has been charged federally in the District of Massachusetts in connection with last week’s Capitol riot, U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said. “We have a flood of incoming information,” he said, adding there are “several active leads, but whether any of them turn into chargeable cases is too soon to tell.”
At least one man from Massachusetts was arrested last Wednesday near the Capitol, but there are reports that dozens to hundreds of locals could have participated in the riots.