Pentagon extends National Guard presence at Capitol

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SANAA, March 10 (YPA) – Pentagon on Tuesday approved a request to keep some 2,300 National Guard soldiers in Washington to help protect the Capitol for another two months, Reuters reported.

The number represents about half of the 5,200 National Guard forces currently guarding the building.

Since the January 6 attack on the US Congress by supporters of former President Donald Trump, National Guard troops have been sent to the building as well as erecting a high fence to expand the security .

“This decision was made after a thorough review of the request and a careful examination of its potential impact on readiness,” the Defense Department said in a statement.

Over the next two months, the department will work with the Capitol Police, which has submitted the request, to reduce the presence of troops “as far as circumstances permit,” according to Reuters.

Some US defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were not aware of intelligence that required a large military presence around the Capitol.

E.M