CT National Guard sending 3 to D.C. for inauguration
Three members of Connecticut’s National Guard, experts on weapons of mass destruction, will head to Washington D.C. as part of a multistate force preparing for possible civil unrest during Joe Biden’s inauguration.
The U.S. Senate and House are set Wednesday to certify the Electoral College votes that gave the former vice president a clear win over President Donald Trump.
Trump is expected to attend protests, and has encouraged his supporters to attend. Authorities are also preparing for possible clashes at the inauguration in part because Trump has not conceded the election.
Several groups are expected to protest in the nation’s capital on Wednesday, including the far-right Proud Boys, as well as Permits Women For America First, the Eighty Percent Coalition and The Silent Majority.
“Big protest in D.C. on January 6th,” the president said on Twitter. “Be there, will be wild!”
The three Connecticut residents are part of a much larger force intended to be there for the inauguration, National Guard Capt. David Pytlik said.
“A lot of different states are sending people down,” he said. “This just happens to be what we’re providing.”
The mayor of Washington D.C. requested the forces to augment local National Guard troops. That request was approved by Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy.
Pitnick declined to identify the three service members being sent down before their deployment due to “operational security” concerns, but said they would be aiding the local civil support team.
“Their unit is there for weapons of mass destruction surveillance and advising,” he said.
Sen. Chris Murphy Tuesday issued a reminder to McCarthy, Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller that a law passed last week requires any federal officers and members of the armed forces to identify themselves while doing any crowd control.
“Last June, Americans watched as President Trump and former Attorney General Bill Barr deployed unidentifiable federal officers in riot gear to crack down on peaceful demonstrators exercising their constitutional rights in cities across the country,” he said. “This lack of identification made it impossible for citizens to distinguish between legitimate law enforcement and dangerous private vigilantes, or hold accountable enforcement personnel who engaged in abusive conduct.”
Pytlik, though, said the three National Guard members heading to Washington from Connecticut would not be acting as civilian police. “They’re not there in any sort of law enforcement capacity,” he said.
There are currently 3,600 guardsmen in Connecticut’s Army National Guard and 1,400 airmen who are members of the Air National Guard.