National Guard could stay in DC until the fall, source reveals to FOX 5

National Guard could be deployed longer in the District

Thousands of National Guardsmen have been present in DC since the insurrection. They are expected to leave by mid-March, but now – a source is revealing to FOX 5 that troops could stay even longer.

WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) - An internal e-mail obtained by FOX 5 reveals members of the National Guard might still be in D.C. through the Fall of 2021.

The National Security Council is asking the Department of Defense to engage Capitol Police on planning for post-March 12th support, according to the e-mail.

There is a scheduled meeting for agencies to discuss on Wednesday, February 17th.

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WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 23: National Guard Citizen-soldiers exit after a U.S. Capitol tour on January 23, 2021 in Washington, DC. Due to COVID-19, Capitol tours had been restricted since March 13, 2020, but have exclusively been reopened for Nationa

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Robert Salesses who began Performing the Duties of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Global Security on January 20, 2021, wrote in the e-mail:

"If it’s not possible to sustain at the current level with NG personnel, we need to establish the number of NG personnel (DCNG and out-of-state) we can sustain for an extended period – at least through Fall 2021 – and understand additional options for providing DoD support, to include use of reserve personnel, as well as active component."

No timeline on when the US Capitol fence will come down

More than five weeks after the U.S. Capitol riot, the fence topped with razor wire creating a three-mile perimeter around the Capitol grounds is still in place and Capitol Police said Thursday there was no timeline to take it down.

On Thursday night during a virtual town hall, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton was asked by DC residents how long the National Guard will stay in DC and how long fencing will stay put, but no straight answers were given from speakers.

Norton told FOX 5 DC she is fine with the troops staying longer to protect the nation’s capital if there is a continued ongoing threat. She prefers the National Guard over fencing.

"We want to depend on state of the art intelligence, not fencing, and National Guard is part of the state of the art intelligence. It’s human beings, not 19th century fencing – the king of fencing we’ve been using for 10,000 years," said Norton.

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FOX 5 reached out to D.C. National Guard for further comment and received the following statement:

"The National Guard is conducting prudent planning for the eventual end of the security mission and the return of its Soldiers and Airmen to their home stations."

We are waiting to hear back from Capitol Police on how much longer they will need the extra support from troops in the nation’s capital.

Security measures are taken around Capitol building by National Guard soldiers on the day before the inauguration ceremonies for President-elect Joe Biden, in Washington, D.C., United States, on January 19, 2021. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agenc

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