The Capitol Police plans to begin scaling back and removing some of the heavy fencing that has surrounded the Capitol building since immediately after the January 6 riot.
This week, the police will reportedly work with the Architect of the Capitol, the agency responsible for maintaining the Capitol Complex, to move an inner fencing perimeter closer to the Capitol and remove the fence’s razor wire.
Next week, an outer fence surrounding the Capitol will be removed completely, which will open up Independence Avenue and Constitution Avenue to traffic for the first time since January.
Acting House Sergeant-at-Arms Timothy Blodgett said in a memo to lawmakers and staff on Monday that Capitol Police officials have said, “there does not exist a known, credible threat against Congress or the Capitol Complex that warrants the temporary security fencing.”
Blodgett said the inner fencing will remain as long as the Architect of the Capitol “continues to make necessary security repairs to the Capitol building.” Capitol Police will “continue to monitor the threat posture, should a change occur, plans will be reevaluated,” he added.
The Capitol Police are also weighing curtailing the National Guard presence at the Capitol, which currently stands at about 2,200 troops, about half the level of troops that were originally called to Washington, D.C. in the wake of the riot. Last week, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin approved a request from the Capitol Police to keep 2,300 troops in Washington through May 23. Capitol Police, however, will consider reducing the troop presence two or three weeks after the outer fence is removed.
The decision to scale back the layers of extra security comes after Lt. General Russel Honoré, who led a review of security failures at the Capitol after the deadly January riot, penned a blistering op-ed arguing that more fencing was not the answer to the Capitol’s security issues.
“The four miles of fences that now ring the Capitol will do nothing to prevent another attack, or to help us understand the underlying failures that allowed the riot to happen,” Honoré wrote.
The imposing fencing surrounding the Capitol building, large areas of which are famously open to the public, had received bipartisan criticism from lawmakers who expressed concerns about the message the barriers send to Americans and the rest of the world.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) posted a video of herself walking around the fencing last week and declaring it is time to “remember this is the people’s House.”
“The fencing is obviously a concern to many people, me included,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) also said last week. “Whether that ought to be permanent, I think most people think that ought not to be a permanent reality on the Hill. But we need to make sure that we can in fact secure the seat of government of the United States of America.”
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