Gov. J.B. Pritzker is sending roughly 500 Illinois National Guard members to Washington, D.C., to aid in the security of the nation’s capital at the request of the Defense Department, state officials said Thursday.
The deployment comes a day after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin laying out concerns of “a heightened threat environment across the United States.”
The bulletin warned that “some ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition … could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence.”
Earlier this month, about 300 Illinois National Guard members were deployed to Washington ahead of President Joe Biden’s inauguration, which took place a week after supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol.
That contingent of the guard has returned, but about 50 have volunteered to return in the latest deployment to Washington.
Prior to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, just 200 guard members were set to deploy, but 100 additional members were requested as part of the increased security measures following the attack, said Lt. Col. Brad Leighton, Illinois National Guard public affairs director.
The new Illinois cohort will primarily consist of Army National Guard soldiers and a small group of airmen. The service members are expected to arrive in Washington at the start of next week and remain through mid-March.
“We are deploying these forces in support of civilian law enforcement based on threat-levels against the U.S. Capitol,” said Maj. Gen. Rich Neely, commander of the Illinois National Guard, said in a statement. “We have asked a lot of them in the last year and each time these men and women have answered the call and upheld their oath to defend and support the U.S. Constitution.”
The Illinois contingent will join approximately 7,000 National Guard members from throughout the country, a number that is expected to fall to 5,000 by the end of February.
About 325 Illinois National Guard members are working on COVID-19 vaccine delivery, with “hundreds more to come online in the coming weeks,” state officials said. The latest deployment to Washington “will not impact the Illinois National Guard’s ability to perform the vaccination distribution,” they said.
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