WASHINGTON - The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will support security operations for the 58th Presidential Inaugural, coordinating with federal, state and local agencies to secure transportation systems and protected sites surrounding the event.
While the U.S. Secret Service has primary responsibility for the coordination of security planning and implementation, TSA will play a key role supporting those efforts.
Individuals who are planning to attend the inaugural activities can expect to see uniformed TSA officers staffing several security checkpoints that will be in place at the various event venues. Hundreds of TSA officers from around the country will be assisting with security operations. They will be coming from approximately 50 different airports to ensure that security operations at any given “home" airport will not be negatively impacted with the officers being assigned in the Washington, D.C., area.
Additional TSA officers will be assigned to assist screening operations at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) because that airport is expected to see the largest increase in the number of passengers departing after the weekend of inaugural events. Travelers should plan to arrive at the airport two hours prior to their scheduled flights.
Travelers departing DCA during and after inauguration weekend can expect to see TSA canine teams working throughout the airport. More than a dozen additional canine teams will be deployed to DCA to assist in screening passengers as they depart the region. The passenger screening canines will be participating in a real-time threat assessment, by sniffing passengers for traces of explosives. This will allow more departing passengers to experience expedited screening.
Additional Visible Intermodal Protection and Response (VIPR) teams will also be deployed at the region’s three airports, Amtrak’s Union Station and select Metrorail locations. These teams of armed federal law enforcement officers are just one of the many additional layers of security that will be in place.
In advance of the Inauguration events, TSA’s Intermodal Virtual Imaging Enhancement Workshop (IVIEW) team completed capturing all of the major transportation sites in the region in 360-degree format for use by first-responders in the event a security incident occurs at any of those sites to include the three local airports, Union Station and all of the Metrorail stations.
TSA’s social media team will monitor the @AskTSA Twitter account and Facebook Messenger account to respond to traveler inquiries in real time from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. during weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the weekend.
For the inauguration, outdoor security checkpoints have been established by the U.S. Secret Service along the National Mall, near the Capitol and along the parade route, which is where the public can expect to see TSA officers conduct screening activities outdoors.
TSA officers will screen spectators who are attending the inauguration along the National Mall; guests who are going to be observing the ceremony near the U.S. Capitol; spectators along the parade route; and officials who are arriving at the Pentagon.
TSA officers will screen spectators for a specialized list of prohibited items established by the U.S. Secret Service. A list of those items is included in the event’s.
Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration
