National Guard officials are working on a plan to call for as many as 7,000 Guard members to remain on duty in Washington, D.C., until around mid-March, Military.com reported.
About 25,600 Guard members were in the nation’s capital to provide security during the inauguration of President Joe Biden. Guard officials last week announced about 15,000 Air and Army National Guard troops would begin returning to their home states.
But officials said they may have up to 7,000 troops remain in D.C. through March 12, with details still in the planning stages, an unnamed Guard official told Military.com.
Any Guard members who stay past the original 31-day mobilization order will be on a volunteer basis, Nahaku McFadden, a spokesman for the National Guard Bureau, told Military.com.
"We are not going to make anybody stay," McFadden said.
Guard officials said last week troops in the nation’s capital and across the nation didn’t face a single security threat on Inauguration Day.
"We not only had 26,000 here in D.C., but there were also 7,000 supporting 30 state capitals around the country," Air Force Maj. Gen. Steven Nordhaus, director of domestic operations and force development for the National Guard Bureau, told Military.com.
"There were no incidents that I know of. ... It was really remarkable with our states working with their local law enforcement."
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