U.S. Marshals at 8:00 a.m. Monday January 18, 2021 announced that 2,000 National Guard troops were sworn in as Special Deputy U.S. Marshals.
The official Twitter account of the U.S. Marshals posted photos showing Chief Lamont Ruffin from D.C. District Court swearing in 2000 National Guard troops as Special Deputy U.S. Marshals prior to the upcoming presidential inauguration.
The tweet was posted the morning after U.S. defense officials announced they are worried about an insider attack or other threat from actual service members in the National Guard that are involved in the security of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. Deputation gives the guardsmen temporary, limited, law enforcement authority pertaining specifically to the safety and protection of the inauguration and related events.
According to officials, the FBI is vetting 25,000 National Guard service members at the Washington D.C. inaugural, where there is concern that there is a threat to the president-elect.
FBI vetting would involve running service member’s names through databases and watchlists maintained by the FBI to see if anything alarming comes up connected to prior investigations or terrorism-related concerns, according to David Gomez, a former FBI national security supervisor in Seattle.
Officials interviewed Monday morning said there have not been any evidence of any threats.
The vetting of the National Guard troops began deploying to D.C. more than a week ago, and was set for completion by Wednesday.