GOP lawmakers question continued National Guard presence on Capitol Hill

As National Guard leaders prepare to extend their mission on Capitol Hill until March, Republican lawmakers wonder if thousands of uniformed troops are still needed to secure the chambers of Congress.

Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton on Wednesday wrote an editorial for Fox News stating that contrary to plans by the Department of Defense and local law enforcement, the guards should leave the Capitol compound as soon as possible.

“I am not aware of any specific and credible threat report … that justifies this continued presence of troops,” wrote Cotton, a former soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. “So I think the rest of these soldiers should also go home, reunite with their families and civilian jobs.

“The lesson from the Capitol Riot is not that we should station a standing army on Capitol Hill just in case, but rather that our security measures should be calibrated against actual threats.”

Cotton’s article came on the same day that 11 House Republicans requested a briefing from the Acting Secretary of the Army on any ongoing threat to the Capitol and the reasoning behind the Guards ‘expansion of the Guards’ mission in Washington. .

“The Guard has experienced unprecedented stress on force over the past year due to COVID-19, social unrest, natural disasters and ongoing demands abroad,” the group wrote. “The National Guard should be used as an option of absolute last resort.”

Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., One of the letter’s authors and a former soldier who served in Afghanistan, said he supported keeping the guard on Capitol Hill if necessary, but did not not seen the rationale.

“If it’s just online chatter, that’s one thing,” he told the Military Times. “But we should know exactly what is driving this number.

“And the guards deserve to know that. Those with whom I spoke, they don’t seem to know. Having them here just to watch a fence doesn’t make sense to me.

Nearly 26,000 National Guard soldiers were mobilized ahead of the January 20 inauguration to ensure the safety of the president-elect and members of Congress.

Two weeks before this event, nearly 1,000 rioters supporting former President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol in an attempt to prevent the certification of the results of the presidential election last November.

Five people have died in the violence, including Capitol Hill cop Brian Sicknick, a former member of the New Jersey Air National Guard who was shot in the head by a fire extinguisher.

Guard officials say there will be a presence in DC until the end of March.

About 7,000 Guard troops are currently serving in Washington, according to Wayne Hall, spokesperson for the National Guard Bureau.

By mid-March, the number of activated troops will be reduced to around 5,000, Hall said in an email to the Military Times. The Guard “will continue to support federal law enforcement agencies.”

Much of the declining force consists of DC National Guard troops who are ordered to stay until the end of March, according to a note obtained by Military Times and statements from Guard officials.

“The DC National Guard will remain on order until March 31, 2021,” said Captain Melissa Heintz, spokesperson for the 113th Wing of the DC Guard.

HASC Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., Wants to maintain the National Guard presence on Capitol Hill, a Democratic HASC spokesperson told the Military Times.

“To date, we are getting even more clarity on the assessment of the specific threat that led to the extension,” the spokesperson said. “The House Armed Services Committee will continue to press for additional information on the expansion of the National Guard’s deployment, threats, as well as to monitor the long-term effects on the overall mission readiness of our personnel from the National Guard as a result of this task. “