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U.S. Department of Homeland Security
January 13, 2021

On January 12, Acting Secretary Gaynor issued the following memorandum to all DHS Components expanding the period of the 59^th Presidential Inauguration National Special Security Event to begin on January 13, 2021:


MEMORANDUM FOR: All DHS Components

FROM: Pete Gaynor
            Acting Secretary

SUBJECT: Expanding the Period of Designation ofthe 59th Presidential Inauguration as a National Special Security Event

The 59^th Presidential Inauguration was designated as a National Special Security Event (NSSE), pursuant to Presidential Policy Directive-22. The period of the 59^th Presidential Inauguration as an NSSE currently lasts from January 19 - January 21, 2021.

The Department has received multiple requests, including from Congress and the Mayor of Washington, D.C., to extend the period of the NSSE up to a week in advance of the 59^th Presidential Inauguration on January 20, 2021. In light of these requests, recent events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and planned events in Washington, D.C. prior to the inauguration, I have determined that extending the NSSE to begin on January 13, 2021 is necessary to provide for a unified command and control and ensure the safety and security of this special event.

The designation of the 59^th Presidential Inauguration for this period of time allows the full resources of the Federal Government to be brought to bear in the development of event security and incident management plans to ensure the safety of all participants."

cc:  National Security Council
       Department of Justice
       Federal Bureau of Investigation

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U.S. Capitol Police
January 14, 2021 Press Release

Enhanced Security Measures throughout Capitol Complex

In preparation for the 59th Presidential Inaugural Ceremonies, the United States Capitol Police (USCP) has implemented a number of enhanced security measures across the U.S. Capitol Complex, including global fencing and street closures until further notice.

Be advised that the U.S. Capitol Complex is closed to the public, and the Capitol Grounds will not be accessible to the public on January 20, 2021.  Anyone attempting to unlawfully gain access to the Capitol Grounds by climbing a fence or any other unlawful means will be subject to an appropriate use of force and arrest.

As part of the USCP’s enhanced security posture, the Department is coordinating the assistance of National Guard troops within the Capitol Complex as well as protective and response capabilities from law enforcement partners throughout the National Capital Region.

“The Department appreciates the support and coordination of the U.S. National Guard as well as all of its law enforcement partners throughout the National Capital Region, in securing the 59th Inaugural Ceremonies,” said Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman.

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U.S. Secret Service Media Relations
January 14, 2020

2021 Presidential Inaugural Subcommittees Announce Joint Transportation Plan

This information is accurate as of Jan. 19 at 1:30 p.m.

The U.S. Secret Service, along with law enforcement and public safety partners, provide the joint transportation plan surrounding the 2021 Presidential Inauguration. This transportation plan provides information regarding road closures, vehicle restrictions, public transportation, parking restrictions and pedestrian routes. This plan is subject to additions or alterations as the National Special Security Event evolves.

Essential employees who normally cross these bridges to access their place of employment are encouraged to seek access to Washington from the east via 295 North at E. Capitol St., Benning Rd. or New York Ave. (Route 50).

Additionally, drivers will be able to enter Washington from the Capital Beltway in Maryland. All major roadways leading into the District are open. Both the Wilson and American Legion Bridges will remain open for traffic between Virginia and Maryland. Chain Bridge will also remain open.

All vehicles, including delivery vehicles that do not have appropriate credentials, will not be able to access restricted zones between midnight, January 19, and January 21 at a time to be determined.

There is the potential for intermittent closures in the downtown area.

Access into Washington, D.C. will be limited Jan. 16-21. The following is a comprehensive map and summary of routes and their status that day

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National Park Service
January 15, 2021
Contact: Mike Litterst

Core Areas of National Mall to Close Through January 21 in Support of the 59th Presidential Inauguration

The National Park Service, at the request of and in cooperation with the United States Secret Service, will implement a temporary public closure of the National Mall beginning at 11 a.m. on Friday, January 15 and extending through at least Thursday, January 21. 

Activities of the 59th presidential inauguration and permitted First Amendment activities in designated locations will be allowed. Areas near the U.S. Navy Memorial and John Marshall Park have been designated as demonstration areas for those holding permits. Demonstrations will be limited in number and participants will be screened prior to entry and escorted to their permitted location, in addition to other safety related requirements. Only those holding permits will be allowed within the closed area. 

The closure has been ordered to ensure safety and security within the area of the National Special Security Event designated by the Department of Homeland Security for the 59th presidential inauguration. The closure affects all National Park Service property, memorials and facilities in the areas roughly bounded by Constitution Avenue, NW to the north; Ohio Drive, SW to the south; the Potomac River to the west; and 3rd Street to the east. The area also generally includes President’s Park, including Lafayette Park, the Ellipse and the White House complex, as well as East and West Potomac parks, and National Park Service lands along Pennsylvania Avenue.

“We appreciate the cooperation of Mayor Bowser working with Secretary Bernhardt to protect our city during the inaugural period,” said Jeff Reinbold, superintendent of National Mall and Memorial Parks. “Working together, the National Park Service, mayor’s office, the Metropolitan Police Department, United States Secret Service and all of our local and federal law enforcement and public safety partners, have developed a plan to ensure for the safety of our Nation’s capital, city residents and monuments and memorials on the National Mall.”

The following areas will be closed to public use:

• Constitution Ave, NW from Rock Creek Parkway, NW to 17th Street NW, to include the adjacent sidewalks;
• 17th Street , NW to H Street, NW, to include the adjacent sidewalks;
• H Street, NW to 15th Street, NW, to include adjacent sidewalks;
• 15th Street, NW to Pennsylvania Avenue, NW to include adjacent sidewalks;
• Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, from 15th Street, NW to 3rd Street, SW, and adjacent sidewalks (except for designated areas for First Amendment activities to be overseen by the National Park Service and United States Park Police);
• 3rd Street, SW, from Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, to Independence Avenue, SW, and adjacent sidewalks;  
• Independence Avenue, SW, from 3rd Street, SW, to Ohio Drive, SW, and adjacent sidewalks; and
• Ohio Drive, SW, to Rock Creek Parkway, NW, and adjacent sidewalks; 
  

In support of this effort, the National Park Service is also temporarily closing to the public the following roadways and park areas:

• East and West Potomac Parks including Hains Point, all memorials and NPS areas contained within;
• On and off ramps to Potomac Park, from I-395 N and I-395;            
• Lincoln Memorial Circle including all adjacent sidewalks and roadways;
• Memorial Bridge, from Washington Boulevard to Lincoln Memorial Circle, including all adjacent sidewalks; and 
• The White House Complex, all of Lafayette Park and the White House sidewalk, the Ellipse, First Division Park, and Sherman Park.

People in and around Washington, D.C. are encouraged so signup for updates on public safety, street closures, weather alerts, transit updates and more via Nixle text alerts from the DC Government. Text INAUG2021 to 888-777 to sign up. 

Additional information is available online at http://www.nps.gov/inauguration.

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Federal Bureau of Investigation
January 15, 2021

FBI Director Christopher Wray’s Remarks at Briefing on Inauguration Security

During a briefing to Vice President Mike Pence with other agency officials at FEMA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., on January 14, 2021, FBI Director Christopher Wray discussed the FBI's efforts regarding inauguration security. Remarks as delivered.

Mr. Vice President, just as we’re doing with our investigation into last week’s violent activities at the Capitol, we’re bringing our aggressive operational capabilities and deep investigative and intelligence expertise to next week’s inauguration.

As Director Murray said, while the Secret Service takes the lead in inaugural security, the FBI is the lead federal agency for crisis response, for counterterrorism investigations, and intelligence analysis. In that vein, as Director Murray said, we’ve been planning for months and months on this, which is part of what I think gives us the confidence that we have. At the FBI, we’ve set up a national command post at FBI Headquarters as well as a command post in our Washington Field Office, which I know you visited before and you would recognize.

As well, we have command posts in all 56 of our field offices. Those command posts bring together personnel—not just from the FBI but from across the government—to gather intelligence, to assess potential threats, to coordinate investigations, and to surge resources where needed. They make it possible to share information in real time and allow our personnel to continually update those threat assessments.

Those command posts are going to be running 24/7 through the inauguration and, in some cases, in the days to follow.

We’re monitoring all incoming leads, whether they’re calls for armed protest, potential threats that grow out of the January 6 breach of the Capitol, or other kinds of potential threats leading up to inaugural events and in various other targets. We’re latched up with all of our partners in that regard.

When we talk about potential threats—maybe I’ll just say a word or two about that—we are seeing an extensive amount of concerning online chatter—that’s the best way I would describe it—about a number of events surrounding the inauguration. Together with our partners, we evaluate those threats and what kind of resources to deploy against them. Right now, we‘re tracking calls for potential armed protests and activity leading up to the inauguration.

The reason I use the word “potential” is because one of the real challenges in this space is trying to distinguish what’s aspirational versus what’s intentional. We’re concerned about the potential for violence at multiple protests and rallies planned here in D.C. and at state Capitol buildings around the country in the days to come that could bring armed individuals within close proximity to government buildings and officials.

As you can imagine, the volume of information out there is significant, but we’ve been pushing that information as rapidly as possible to all of our relevant law enforcement and intelligence partners. If we find that an individual poses a violent threat, then we and our partners will take advantage of every lawful authority and method we’ve got to disrupt any attempt or attack. Our posture is aggressive; it’s going to stay that way through the inauguration.

In that vein, we and our partners have already arrested more than 100 individuals for their criminal activities in last week’s siege of the Capitol and continue to pursue countless other related investigations. Those help not only prevent those individuals from any effort to repeat that kind of activity, but also should serve as a very stern warning to anybody else who might be inclined to try to engage in that activity.

But we’re also taking other steps. The American people may not hear about every disruption in the media and may not see the FBI’s hand in everything we do, but they should be confident that there’s an awful lot of work all across the country going on behind the scenes, out of the spotlight, where we’re feeding relevant information to all of our partners so that they can harden targets as appropriate.

And as I said, we’re looking at individuals who may have an eye toward repeating that same kind of violence that we saw last week. I mean, from January 6 alone, we’ve already identified over 200 suspects. We know who you are, if you’re out there, and FBI agents are coming to find you.

My advice to people who might be inclined to follow in the footsteps of those who engaged in the kind of activity that we saw last week is: Stay home. Look at what’s happening now to the people who were involved in the Capitol siege. Wherever they scattered to—whether it was Memphis, Phoenix, Dallas, Honolulu—what they’re finding is that we’ve got FBI agents tracking them down and arresting them.

If I were those people, you don’t want to be the ones to have FBI agents knocking on your door at 6:00 a.m. So anybody who plots or attempts violence in the coming week should count on a visit.

So together with our partners here in the District and across the country, we’re going to be doing everything we can to ensure a smooth transition of power in the days to come. This is a team effort, and I’m really proud of the team that you have assembled here.

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National Guard
January 15, 2021

25K authorized; 50 States, three territories and DC Supporting Presidential Inauguration

The Defense Department has agreed to provide up to 25,000 service members to support the Presidential Inauguration National Special Security Event federal law enforcement mission and security preparations, as led by the U.S. Secret Service. The Department of the Army and the National Guard Bureau are working on a sourcing solution now to support this request.

Every state, territory and the District of Columbia will have National Guard men and women supporting the inauguration.

As of this morning, more than 33,400 National Guard members are supporting homeland operations at the direction of their governors. The current number includes activations for COVID-19 and civil disturbance missions. Additionally, National Guard soldiers and airmen from all 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia will be supporting law enforcement in D.C. for the 59th Presidential Inauguration.

Presently, there are more than 66,900 Guard men and women engaged in homeland and overseas missions. More than 21,600 National Guard professionals continue COVID-19 response efforts at the direction of their governors in all 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia.

"Our National Guard soldiers and airmen are set around the city to protect our nation's Capital. At the same time we have thousands around the country supporting COVID operations, Operation Warp Speed, and a multitude of soldiers and airmen are deployed overseas supporting combat operations," Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau said. "I would especially like to thank the families who are maybe alone tonight, and let you know our nation greatly appreciates all your sacrifices, and those of your service member. I cannot be prouder to be part of this organization."

With nearly 440,000 soldiers and airmen across 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia, the National Guard has a deep bench of experience and capabilities to call upon. At the National Guard's historic activation peak on June 6, 2020, roughly 120,000 Guard members were engaged worldwide.

National Guard civil support missions are generally conducted to assist:

• Supporting civil authorities whose capabilities or capability is insufficient to meet current requirements.
• Protecting the life, property and safety of U.S. citizens.
• Protecting critical U.S. infrastructure.
• Providing humanitarian assistance during disaster response and domestic emergencies.
• Providing support to designated law enforcement activities and operations.
• Providing support to designated events, and other activities.

More National Guard troops head to DC for inaugural support

National Guard troops from Wisconsin, Nebraska, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Maine are heading to the nation's capital to support law enforcement through the presidential inauguration next week, joining fellow Guard members from more than a dozen other states. (https://ngpa.us/11730)

As of Jan. 14, there were nearly 7,000 National Guard members on the ground in the District of Columbia from D.C., Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.

The Secret Service, Capitol Police and U.S. Park Police requested the assistance, Hokanson said. The Secret Service is the lead federal agency coordinating security for the inauguration next Wednesday.

"The National Guard has a long and proud history of inauguration support," Hokanson during an inauguration security briefing with Vice President Mike Pence Jan. 14. "The forefathers of today's National Guard were present for the inauguration of George Washington, and we have been part of every inauguration since."

National Guard takes on COVID-19 vaccination mission
Many National Guard members who supported COVID-19 response efforts in 2020 spent much of the year conducting tests, sanitizing facilities, providing logistical support and delivering meals and personal protective equipment. (https://ngpa.us/11731)

Now, the Guard can add another mission to a fight that is approaching the one-year mark: supporting vaccinations.

As early as mid-December, select Guard units were preparing to support local health officials by collecting, securing, transporting and - when requested - administering COVID-19 vaccinations.

Once the vaccines were available, many Guard medical elements nationwide sprang into action.

In New Hampshire, just days before the New Year, 13 vaccination sites opened - with Guard members conducting traffic control, logistical support, and vaccine administration missions. Efficiency was key.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fri., Jan. 15, 2021

  

CONTACT:     

Rachel Cohen (Warner)

Katie Stuntz (Kaine)

Alena Yarmosky (Northam)

Aaron Fritschner (Beyer)

Jamie Smith (Connolly)

Tommy Mattocks (Wexton)

VIRGINIA LEADERS RESPOND TO BRIDGE CLOSURES FOR PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION

WASHINGTON – Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, and U.S. Reps. Don Beyer, Gerry Connolly, and Jennifer Wexton (all D-VA) today issued the following statement on the agreement between the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States Secret Service (USSS) authorizing the use of Virginia State Police assets, resources, and personnel, to assist with the closure of bridges spanning the Potomac River during the 2021 Presidential Inauguration Ceremony: 
 
“The 2021 Presidential Inauguration Ceremony will see the strongest Capital-area security response in history. We worked together to push for a response that balances protecting public safety in a manner commensurate with available intelligence about threats without going too far. It is very important now that the U.S. Secret Service and its partner agencies communicate road and bridge closures swiftly and clearly in order to keep disruptions to a minimum. All of us want the transfer of power to be as peaceful as possible, and we thank all of the men and women in uniform helping to make this historic occasion safe.”
 
As a result of the Virginia-USSS agreement, Virginia State Police will facilitate the closure of bridges and pedestrian thoroughfares including Theodore Roosevelt Bridge, Arlington Memorial Bridge, Interstate 395 Bridge, and 14th Street Bridge, beginning at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, January 19, and ending at 6:00 a.m. on Thursday, January 21, at 6:00 a.m.
 

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Senate Intelligence Committee
January 15, 2020

SENATE INTEL LEADERS REQUEST DNI PROVIDE INFORMATION ON INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY EFFORTS FOR BIDEN’S INAUGURATION

Washington, D.C. — Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Acting Chairman Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) requested information from Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe regarding how the Intelligence Community is preparing for the inauguration on January 20, 2021.
 
The full text of the letter is below.
 
Dear Director Ratcliffe:
 
In light of the recent violence at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, we request that you provide the Committee with a detailed description of how the Intelligence Community (IC) is supporting relevant customers in the Congress, Executive Branch, and state and local law enforcement in preparation for the inauguration on January 20, 2021.
 
Specifically:

• Please update the Committee on all intelligence related to efforts by foreign actors to disrupt the inauguration. Please describe the process by which this reporting will be shared with federal, state, and local stakeholders.
  
  
  
• What products and briefings do you intend to issue to provide indications and warning of any potential unrest, whether foreign or domestic in origin, before and during the inauguration?
  
  
  
• To what extent is the IC working with and/or supporting law enforcement agencies in tracking any threats to the inauguration, and what is the IC’s current assessment of such threats?
  
  
  
• What scenario planning are you conducting in advance of inauguration day?
  
  
  
• What capabilities do the Intelligence Community plan on deploying during inauguration day?

 
 
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
 
Sincerely,