FBI vets National Guard ahead of Biden inauguration amid fears of 'insider threat': Report

After the shocking violence at US Capitol earlier this month, amid fears of unrest on President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, tens and thousands of security personnel from the National Guard and law enforcement agencies have descended in Washington. US Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy has told The Associated Press on January 17 that the officials are ‘conscious of the potential threat’ and has even warned the commanders to remain vigilant for any issues within their ranks as the day when Biden will be sworn-in approaches. FBI has also been reportedly vetting the National Guard troops amid fears of ‘insider attack’.

However, McCarthy and other leaders have reportedly said that they have not yet seen any evidence of threats but the officials said the vetting had not lagged any new issue. But, McCarthy said that the security officials are going to continue their work. Meanwhile, as per the report, he along with other military leaders were subjected to a three-hour-long security drill in preparation for Wednesday’s inauguration. Mccarthy reportedly said that the National Guard members are also being trained on how to identify potential insider threats.

“We’re continually going through the process, and taking second, third looks at every one of the individuals assigned to this operation,” McCarthy said.

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Security ramped up in Washington 

As per the report, at least 25,000 members of the National Guard have steamed into Washington from across the United States which is also at least two and a half times the number of previous president’s inauguration. Multiple officials have even said that the process had begun more than a week ago when the first Guard troops were deployed to the DC which is set to be completed by Wednesday. Meanwhile, along with the routine military review of service members with extremist connections, FBI is reportedly also screening in addition to any previous monitoring.

“The question is, is that all of them? Are there others?” said McCarthy. “We need to be conscious of it and we need to put all of the mechanisms in place to thoroughly vet these men and women who would support any operations like this.”

Insider threats have been a persistent issue for law enforcement in the US after the September 11, 2001 attacks. However, in most cases, the threats include the ones from homegrown insurgents that are radicalised by terror groups such as the al-Qaida. But, in contrast, this time, the law enforcement is in a caution against the protesters that support the outvoted US President Donald Trump fueled by his baseless claims of voter fraud in the November elections.

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