Inauguration Worries and ‘Unexpected Events’ Intense security preparations and precautions. by Joseph Hippolito
https://www.frontpagemag.com/inauguration-worries-and-unexpected-events/
One week before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, in his final press briefing, outgoing National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan made a cryptic comment.
“I hope this is my last time at this podium, at least for a while,” Sullivan said. “The only thing that would bring me back is an unexpected event in the next few days, which, as you all know, is totally possible, given everything you’ve seen over the past years.”
Did Sullivan speak generally or did he have specific situations in mind?
Consider an internal memo sent by Derrick Jaastad, the executive director of the Veterans’ Health Association’s Office of Emergency Management. Dated Dec. 10, the memo requested two paramedics, two registered nurses, and either two physicians, nurse practitioners or physicians’ assistants for the period between January 17 and 21. The volunteers needed up-to-date certifications, experience in surgery or emergencies, and clearance from the Secret Service.
Such a request is unprecedented.
Jaastad’s request and Sullivan’s comments reflect the distinct possibility of violent mayhem preceding the inauguration, if not during the ceremony itself. That mayhem could include another attempt to assassinate Trump.
As in recent inaugurations, Washington, D.C. is on lockdown. Almost 25,000 law enforcement officers — including 8,000 troops from the National Guard — will be responsible for security. Contractors installed nearly 30 miles of security fencing in the city.
“A large chunk of downtown Washington — stretching about two miles from the White House to the Capitol — will be closed to vehicular traffic, with entry points blocked with concrete barriers, garbage trucks and other heavy items,” Reuters reported.
The Department of Energy even is flying special helicopters over the city to measure radiation levels in case terrorists plan to plant a small nuclear weapon. The department’s Nuclear Energy Support Team conducted similar flights between Dec. 2 and Dec. 13.
“If we find a radiological irregularity, we’ll investigate it even further,” senior scientist Jacqueline Brandon told CBS News.
On Friday, Trump announced that both the inauguration ceremony and public festivities would move indoors to the Capitol Rotunda and the Capital One Arena, respectively, ostensibly because of extremely cold weather.
Making such precautions more necessary is the surge of illegal immigrants during the Biden Administration.
The House Committee on Homeland Security reported that from Fiscal Year 2021 to Fiscal Year 2024, about 10.8 million migrants entered the United States illegally, including more than 8.72 million at the Mexican border.
Among them are roughly 65,000 Chinese nationals, an increase of more than 1,000 percent from the three previous fiscal years. Some have connections to the Chinese Communist Party or the People’s Liberation Army, the committee reported.
Middle Eastern terrorists also exploit Biden’s open-border policies. Sarah Adams, a former CIA targeting officer, described how they gain entry.
“A lot of them are coming through the Darien gap (in Panama) to the border,” she said on Shawn Ryan’s podcast Dec. 12. “They came in with fake Afghan passports, fake Syrian passports, fake Turkish passports. Those are the three preferences because they’re the easiest to get.”
The ultimate goal is a massive strike similar to Hamas’ attack against Israelis in 2023.
“Al-Qaeda says they trained and deployed a thousand for this attack,” Adams said. “First off, I think there are more than a thousand Al-Qaeda members in the United States, but for the Homeland Attack, that number is based on what Al-Qaeda is saying, so they could exaggerate it. However, they did have about 1,400 in the Hamas Attack so the number is not off from what they did in the first round of attacks.”(emphasis added)
Recently, an HVAC contractor in Chicago made a frightening discovery while servicing an apartment building’s unit.
“I came across C-4, some explosives, a rifle, a lot of fake ID’s, a lot of fireman stuff, a lot of police force stuff,” Melissa Carraway told Chicago’s WLS-TV on Jan. 14.
Police brandishing ballistics shields evacuated the complex and made one arrest.
Whether foreign nationals planned to use the paraphernalia Carraway discovered remains an open question. But given the havoc the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is wreaking nationwide, the possibility must be faced.
Yet even if the inauguration goes smoothly, the new administration will confront more corrosive threats from entrenched interests.
In a video from O’Keefe Media Group that FrontPage Magazine posted Thursday, a consultant for the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke about how he is working with high-ranking former military officers to sabotage Trump’s plans.
“I’m in conversation with a couple of retired generals to try to explore what we can do,” Jaime Mannina unwittingly told an undercover reporter. “There’s this rear admiral. Another is a major general in the Army. Those are the two I talked to the most but I’ve talked to quite a few. They’re like one-, two- and three-star generals and admirals.”
Mannina also worked before the election as a ghostwriter for a nonprofit organization called National Security Leaders for America, a group of retired military officers and ambassadors opposing Trump.
“This organization tried to defeat Donald Trump,” Mannina said. “I myself wrote 110, 120 op-eds in newspapers across the country. I wrote not in my name but I would let the other general put his name on it. Some articles landed in some pretty big papers, the Wall Street Journal, National Journal.”
“I did a lot of writing, the most writing I’ve done in my life. I was literally working day and night, nonstop.”
Mannina was fired after the video appeared.
Now suppose the inauguration proceeds without incident. If such insiders as Mannina are dedicating themselves to circumventing Trump’s policies, how many other members of the self-styled “resistance” in Washington’s bureaucracy are trying to follow suit?
Such “resistance” could be more devastating than violence.
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