September 12, 2024
Remember this?
Well – Secret Service and Homeland Security are now involved to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
The Department of Homeland Security just announced the for the first time ever – the counting of electoral votes by congress on January 6, 2025 – will now be designated as a national special security event.
That’s significant for several reasons.
One –designating something as a national special security event is usually reserved only for events with the highest national significance like the inauguration of the president, the super bowl, the United Nations general assembly meeting the RNC and the DNC – right big huge events where tons of people are going to be there and the eyes of the country are on it.
Two – it’s significant because this is the first time ever January 6th is getting this designation. Look before to January 6 2021 – this counting of electoral votes was a pretty mundane event. Most Americans didn’t even know it was going on. Yes – for us political nerds it was interesting to watch and there were always lawmakers who challenged slates of electors – but it was never a question of what the outcome was going to be. But that all changed in 2021 and because of the riot at the capital and the fact that lawmakers had to evacuate – homeland security isn’t taking anymore chances.
So – according to this announcement secret service will be in charge of this operation. But they will be collaborating with federal, state and local law enforcement partners to develop and implement a comprehensive integrated security plan to ensure not only the security of the capital building and the surrounding area – but also a plan to ensure the security of the lawmakers who are inside the building doing their constitutional duty of counting the electoral votes.
What does that look like? Fencing? More law enforcement? National guard troops? How much is it going to cost taxpayers? We don’t know the answers to those questions yet – but secret service says the formal planning process is already underway with the leadership and then the other federal, state and local law enforcement and public safety partners will be looped in in the coming weeks. And it’ll be up to congress to allocate the money for this operation before the government is set to shut down in less the three weeks.
Read more from Secret Service here.
