As National Guard leaders prepare to extend their Capitol Hill mission into March, Republican lawmakers are questioning whether thousands are uniformed troops are still needed to secure the halls of Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Wednesday, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton penned an op-ed for Fox News<\/a> stating that contrary to Defense Department and local law enforcement plans, the guardsmen should leave the Capitol grounds as soon as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m aware of no specific, credible threat reporting \u2026 that justifies this continued troop presence,\u201d wrote Cotton, a former soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. \u201cThus, I believe the rest of these soldiers should also go home to their families and civilian jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe lesson of the Capitol riot is not that we should quarter a standing army at the Capitol just in case, but rather that our security measures should be calibrated to the actual threats.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cotton\u2019s piece came the same day that 11 House Republicans requested a briefing from the acting Army Secretary on any ongoing threats to the Capitol and the reasoning behind extending the guardsmen\u2019s mission in Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Guard has endured unprecedented stress on the force in the last year given COVID-19, social unrest, natural disasters and ongoing overseas requirements,\u201d the group wrote. \u201cThe National Guard should be used as an option of absolute last resort.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., one of the letter writers and a former soldier who served in Afghanistan, said he supports the Guard remaining on Capitol Hill if needed, but has not seen the justification for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf it\u2019s just online chatter, that\u2019s one thing,\u201d he told Military Times. \u201cBut we should know exactly what is driving that number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd the guardsmen deserve to know that. The ones I have spoken with, they don\u2019t seem to know. To have them here just to stare at a fence doesn\u2019t make sense to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Almost 26,000 National Guard troops were mobilized in advance of the Jan. 20 inauguration to provide security for the president-elect and members of Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two weeks prior to that event, nearly 1,000 rioters supporting former President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building in an attempt to stop the certification of last November\u2019s presidential election results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Five people died in the violence, including Capitol Hill police officer Brian Sicknick, a former New Jersey Air National Guard member who was struck in the head by a fire extinguisher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Guard officials say that there will be a presence in D.C. through the end of March.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Around 7,000 Guard troops are currently on duty in Washington, according to Wayne Hall, a spokesperson for the National Guard Bureau.<\/p>\n\n\n\t