DC Mayor Asks Feds to Cancel Demonstration Permits, Plan Inauguration Security [View all]

By Mark Segraves and NBC Washington Staff

The mayor of Washington, D.C., asked federal officials to cancel permits for demonstrations and plan to protect federal property around Inauguration Day “given the new threats from insurgent acts of domestic terrorists.”

Mayor Muriel Bowser asked Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf to cancel public gathering permits for the next two weeks, from Jan. 11 to Jan. 24. The request is “essential to demonstrating our collective resolve in ensuring the constitutional transfer of power and our nation’s capital,” Bowser wrote in a letter Saturday, days after a stunning riot inside the U.S. Capitol Building.

Additionally, the mayor asked federal officials to extend the “national special security event” period from Jan. 11 to Jan. 24, instead of its current Jan. 19 to Jan. 21. The extension will allow local and federal officials to better prepare for Inauguration Day, she wrote. D.C. urged DHS to get permission from Congress to include the Capitol and its grounds in the security perimeter.

D.C. asked for a pre-disaster declaration, and urged DHS to coordinate with Congress, the Justice Department and the Supreme Court to plan to protect federal property so D.C. officers can focus on local, D.C. land.

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/dc-mayor-asks-feds-to-cancel-demonstration-permits-plan-inauguration-security/2536542/