The FBI has warned law enforcement agencies that far-right extremists have talked about posing as National Guardsmen and reviewed maps of vulnerable spots in Washington in potential efforts to disrupt the inauguration, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.
According to the Post, an intelligence report it obtained — a summary of threats the FBI identified at a Monday intelligence briefing — warned that both “lone wolves” and QAnon adherents have indicated they plan to come to Washington for President-elect Joe Biden’s swearing-in.
The FBI also said it observed people downloading and sharing maps of sensitive locations in Washington and discussing how they could be used to interfere in inauguration security, the Post reported.
“QAnon members have discussed posing as National Guard soldiers, believing that it would be easy for them to infiltrate secure areas,” according to the document, which added that members have been crowdsourcing images to surveil the security perimeter, the Post reported.
An unnamed defense official told the Post that National Guard members have been warned to watch for anyone in uniform who looks like they are out of place.
“Concerns of lone wolf actors are increasing,” the report also said, the Post reported — and took note that five people who took part in an armed demonstration at the Ohio Statehouse on Sunday have said they were traveling to Washington for the inauguration.
The Post reported that while the FBI has picked up “suspicious traffic” in monitoring the kinds of communication systems used by some participants in the Capitol siege, it includes “nothing that points to any specific action.”
At least 21,500 National Guard troops, thousands more law enforcement officers, and miles of temporary fencing have been brought into Washington to cordon off monuments and historic buildings ahead of Wednesday's inauguration.
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