“This will be a national security event they will probably never forget,” Captain Dave Pytlik said.
New images Wednesday show National Guard members inside our nation’s Capitol taking turns protecting and sleeping and in the coming days more than 100 members of the Connecticut National Guard will join in with them.
“We are sworn to uphold and support the constitution of the United States, that is the upmost important work that we can do,” Pytlik said.
Pytlik with the Connecticut National Guard said members traditionally help with the inauguration but this year plans for support will mean more duties including three specific roles.
“We’re going to have civil support team members looking for any weapons of mass destruction performing that surveillance mission,” Pytlik said.
Guard members from Connecticut will also have military dog teams looking for explosives as well as military police which will perform general security traffic controls at places like entry points.
“They will all be in support of the Washington DC national guard which is unique in that they don’t have a governor so those requests typically go through the mayor of Washington DC to the secretary of the army,” Pytlik said.
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While the mission was fueled by political unrest, Pytlik said guard members will be responsible for protecting people, property, liberty and safety ahead of on and after inauguration day.
“Everybody may have their opinions and strong opinions but at the end of the day it is our constitutional duty to remain non-political,” Pytlik said.
Also on standby, the state’s Air Guard has placed aircraft and crews on alert status, should they need to move personnel throughout the country.
