Biden inauguration: Worries as Homeland Security chief quits

Washington - Fear of more violence and protest by Trump supporters grips the US as security tightened

US Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf announced his resignation unexpectedly on Monday as worries rose over more violence during President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration next week.

Wolf’s departure as head of the body in charge of security for the January 20 event came five days after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol hoping to prevent Biden from replacing him.

The Homeland Security Department oversees several law enforcement bodies including the Secret Service, the point agency for security for the White House and the US president.

Wolf, who said he was stepping down for procedural reasons, named Pete Gaynor, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to replace him.

But the move did not end questions over whether the US capital city would be adequately secure over the coming week.

An internal FBI document warned of the possibility that armed Trump supporters could hold protests in all 50 states between the coming weekend and January 20, according to US media.

And federal and city officials continued to point fingers over who was responsible for the debacle at the Capitol last Wednesday, when the Congressional police force was overwhelmed by thousands of Trump supporters who succeeded in shutting down the legislature.

The Pentagon said on Monday it had authorised 15,000 National Guard troops to be deployed for Biden’s inauguration.

Already 6,200 are on the ground in Washington, and a total of 10,000 are planned by the coming weekend, said General Daniel Hokanson, chief of the Defence Department’s National Guard Bureau.

Another 5,000 could be deployed by the day of the inauguration, he said.

They will come equipped with riot gear and weapons, but so far they have not been authorised to arm themselves while on the streets of the US capital, he said.

Before he announced his departure, Wolf also ordered an acceleration of preparations by the Secret Service, citing “events of the past week and the evolving security landscape”.

Preparations for the event were moving quickly. A security fence has been built around the entire grounds of the Capitol, where Biden will take the oath of office as Trump’s successor.

Still angry about last Wednesday’s violence, in which five people died, including a protestor shot dead by police and a police officer who was attacked dying from injuries, Washington mayor Muriel Bowser appealed to Biden backers to stay away from the US capital on inauguration day.

Normally hundreds of thousands of Americans, and sometimes more than a million, flock to Washington for the quadrennial event.

Biden will be sworn in at the Capitol in front of the National Mall filled with flags rather than the usual hundreds of thousands of spectators.

Wolf, who had been serving in an acting capacity since November 2019 and was never confirmed by the Senate, said he was compelled to leave by “recent events,” including court rulings that found he could not legally hold the position. He did not specify the other events or cite other factors.

• Americas