警卫队的最高将领说，多达7000名国民警卫队队员将在华盛顿再呆大约7周，以协助联邦执法机构关注潜在的国内骚乱。
丹尼尔·霍根森将军周六告诉记者:“我们现在可能在3月中旬。”。
他补充说，这支部队的规模可以根据当地执法机构的要求进行调整。剩下的卫兵是否会继续配备武器将由联邦执法部门决定。
路易斯·马丁内斯/美国广播公司新闻
国民警卫局局长丹尼尔·霍根森将军(左)在机场会见警卫人员
一名美国官员告诉美国广播公司新闻，这些机构看到极端组织在讨论首都潜在的骚乱。
至于组成7000人的部队，霍根森补充说:“他们中的一些人将是已经在这里的人。一些州实际上会轮换其他人，我们正与各州密切合作，以确定下一个。”
霍根森在与保卫国会大厦的警卫进行日常访问时发表了他的评论。在宽敞的国会游客中心，他还会见了印第安纳州和弗吉尼亚州的警卫，他们正在短暂休息，并问他们是否得到了他们需要的一切。
周五，在公众抗议显示他们在一个没有暖气的停车场休息后，警卫再次被允许使用该设施休息。车库的使用是在向警卫提出要求后发生的，警卫要求他们停止使用国会大厦的室内位置。
霍根森还证实，在就职日提供安保的25，000名国民警卫队队员中，不到200人已经签约新冠肺炎(新型冠状病毒肺炎)，感染率低于1%。
霍根森说:“我们竭尽所能，但我们认为这个数字很低。”。受感染的警卫人员将在生病期间留在华盛顿，因为就职典礼当天在场的25，000人中的一些人周六开始返回他们的家乡。
7,000 National Guardsmen to remain in Washington through mid-March
Up to 7,000 National Guardsmen will remain in Washington for about seven more weeks to assist federal law enforcement agencies concerned over potential domestic disturbances, the Guard's top general said.
"We're looking at probably mid-March right now," Gen. Daniel Hokanson told reporters on Saturday.
The size of that force can be adjusted depending on requests from local law enforcement agencies, he added. Whether the remaining guardsmen will continue to be armed will be decided by federal law enforcement.
A U.S. official told ABC News that the agencies were seeing "chatter" among extremist groups discussing potential disturbances in the nation's capital.
As for the troops making up the 7,000, Hokanson added: "Some of them will be the folks that are already here. Some states are actually going to rotate other folks, and we're working very closely with the states to determine that next."
Hokanson made his comments as he carried out his daily visit with the guardsmen who are securing the Capitol. At the spacious Capitol Visitors Center, he also met with guardsmen from Indiana and Virginia, who were taking a short break, and asked them if they were getting everything they needed.
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On Friday, guardsmen were once again allowed to use the facility for rest periods after the public outcry generated by photos that showed them resting inside an unheated parking garage. The use of the garage occurred after a request was made to the Guard that they stop using indoor locations on Capitol grounds.
Hokanson also confirmed that fewer than 200 of the 25,000 National Guardsmen who provided security on Inauguration Day had contractedCOVID-19, an infection rate lower than 1%.
"We do everything we can, but we do think that number is low," said Hokanson. The infected guardsmen will remain in Washington while sick as some of the 25,000 who were on hand for Inauguration Day began returning to their home states on Saturday.
