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Security On Capitol Hill for the Inauguration

Source: Liz Lynch / Getty

Additional support from the North Carolina National Guard is en route to Washington, D.C. ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration next week, Gov. Roy Cooper’s office reported on Friday.

According to U.S. News and World Report, at least 21,000 National Guard Troops from across the country have been called into the nation’s capital. About 300 from North Carolina after the call for extra hands on deck. Cooper initially sent 200 troops to help secure the grounds around the Capitol earlier this week.

“The National Guard Bureau in Washington requested the additional personnel, North Carolina Guard Lt. Col. Matt DeVivo said in an email to the Report. All 300 guard members — serving in military police, engineering and armored brigade units based in Asheville, Clinton and Raeford — should be in place by Monday, DeVivo said.”

Nearly 400 guard members will remain on duty in North Carolina to protect the State Capitol.

“With ongoing security concerns in Washington, D.C. and state capitals around the nation following last week’s attack on the U.S. Capitol must be taken seriously and I will deploy necessary resources to keep North Carolinians safe,” Cooper said earlier in the week.

National Security officials in Washington, D.C. have warned that extremist groups could be planning another round of violent protests in all fifty states in the coming days.