Prepping for Inauguration

NORAD and US Northern Command elements will be “up and robust” to assist with the upcoming Presidential inauguration, expected to draw an estimated three to four million people, said Gen. Victor Renuart Jr., who heads both commands, Wednesday in a breakfast session with Washington, D.C.-based defense reporters. “We will be an active participant in both the ceremonial and the defense civil support authorities to the inaugural event,” he said. Renuart anticipates around 7,500 active duty military and 4,000 National Guard personnel will augment security. He said NORTHCOM’s chemical, biological, nuclear, and radiological response force will be on alert, an integrated medical response plan will be ready, and NORAD will step up air defense patrols in the capital region, all under the operational direction of the Joint Task Force National Capital Region. Renuart said the support was “not because we see a specific threat,” but because of the nature of this inauguration, which he termed “this visible and this important and this historic.”