Are you thinking about attending next week’s presidential inauguration, but are worried about how safe the event will be? We spoke with a local security expert, and his verdict: You shouldn’t let your fears stop you from going.
Seth Krummrich, vice president for client risk management at the international security firm Global Guardian, worked at one inauguration when he was in the military. He says the security planning for the inauguration started more than a year ago, and involves multiple federal and local agencies using tactics and technology both seen and unseen.
“You’ll have more than 25,000 security folks that will be there on the ground,” Krummich says. After planning out a timeline, members of the agencies (literally) walk through a massive map, roughly the size of 15 to 20 basketball courts, at the DC Armory. The team are all connected on a single communications system, and they’ve spent a great deal of time and effort discussing the “what-ifs that come up,” Krummrich says. “They talk about the most likely course of action, and then they talk about the most dangerous course of action that they see.”
Plan Ahead
Krummrich says more than 200,000 people are expected to head to the inauguration. That means road closures and security checks, so if you’re looking to be a part of the event, he says you need to plan ahead: “The key for anybody, if they’re going to this, is to get informed and educated before they go,” Krummrich says.
Law enforcement will “create a security bubble within that area,” Krummrich says, and that means security checkpoints. The same rules apply as would to any public event in the area — no weapons, any bags have to be small and clear. And those checkpoints can become chokepoints if everyone isn’t doing their part to make the screening process as easy as possible for security officials and attendees alike.
Budget plenty of travel time to get there. Krummrich highly recommends taking the Metro, but if you do decide to drive, which Krummrich doesn’t advise, make sure you have a parking spot lined up beforehand.
The Lone Wolf
While law enforcement is preparing for demonstrations, they don’t anticipate major problems. Krummrich says security officials have been monitoring social media and flagging potential trouble, but earlier this week, Dave Sundberg, the assistant director in charge of the FBI Washington field office, told The Associated Press, “At this time, we are not tracking any credible or specific threats associated with these events.”
That doesn’t discount the lone actor, which Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said this week remained “the biggest threat, I think, for all of us.”
Krummrich agrees, because the lone actor, by definition, doesn’t confer with anyone before they act.
Security professionals most fear “that person who perhaps was vulnerable, isolated, got themselves into a space and said that this today is going to be the day that I make my mark or make my voice heard,” Krummrich says. “It’s not the organized groups, because those are somewhat predictable. And you can get that lead angle sometimes from what you’re seeing people say or post when they mobilize. That isolated, vulnerable, activated individual is the one who does pose that threat.”
Security Bubble
Toward that end, law enforcement and private security will work inside the security bubble, aided by powerful surveillance cameras that will help detect threats both from and to protesters. “It’s not like the Ring camera in your house,” Krummrich says. “This is no kidding — cameras that … all have AI backbones to them. They’re excellent at looking for knives and guns. They can look and find strange bulges in waistbands. They’re looking out there for anything that is going to stand out that has been identified as a threat, and then be able to direct local law enforcement or federal agents to be able to come in and basically identify if that threat is legitimate, and if it is legitimate, then be able to address it.”
‘I Highly Recommend It’
It sounds pretty fearsome, but Krummrich says the end result of these layers — intelligence, security presence, and surveillance — is a security bubble that anyone curious about coming to the inauguration should feel safe entering.
“I highly recommend it,” he said. “I would bring my family there if I was in the area, for sure. It is something that is worth participating in, at least witnessing, because it’s our democracy in action. You know, democracy can be clean and messy. It’s worth seeing. And I truly think they’re going to run a very secure event.”
Feature image, stock.adobe.com
