{"id":10926,"date":"2025-06-10T04:01:04","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T04:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=10926"},"modified":"2025-06-10T04:01:06","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T04:01:06","slug":"dc-prepares-for-trumps-military-parade-with-18-miles-of-fencing-175-magnetometers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=10926","title":{"rendered":"DC prepares for Trump’s military parade with 18 miles of fencing, 175 magnetometers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

WASHINGTON — <\/span>As the nation’s capital cleans up from the culmination<\/a> of World Pride<\/a> this past weekend, focus now shifts to a very different massive event \u2014 Saturday’s military parade<\/a> to honor the 250th birthday of the Army and the 79th birthday of President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re preparing for an enormous turnout,\u201d said Matt McCool of the Secret Service’s Washington Field office, who said more than 18 miles of \u201canti-scale fencing\u201d would be erected and \u201cmultiple drones\u201d would be in the air. The entire District of Columbia is normally a no-fly zone for drones. <\/p>\n

Army officials have estimated around 200,000 attendees for the evening military parade, and McCool said he was prepared for “hundreds of thousands” of people. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a ton of magnetometers,\u201d he said. \u201cIf a million people show up, then we’re going to have some lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

A total of 175 magnetometers would be used at security checkpoints controlling access to the daytime birthday festival and the nighttime parade. Metropolitan Police Department chief Pamela Smith predicted \u201cmajor impacts to traffic\u201d and advised attendees to arrive early and consider forgoing cars for the Metro. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a significant event with a large footprint,\u201d she said. \u201cWe’re relying on the public to be an extra set of ears and eyes for us.\u201d <\/p>\n

The military parade has been designated a National Special Security Event \u2014 similar to a presidential inauguration or state funeral. That status is reserved for events that draw large crowds and potential mass protests. It calls for an enhanced degree of high-level coordination among D.C. officials, the FBI, Capitol Police and Washington\u2019s National Guard contingent \u2014 with the Secret Service taking the lead. <\/p>\n

The Army birthday celebration had already been planned for months. But earlier this spring, Trump announced his intention to transform the event \u2014 which coincides with his 79th birthday \u2014 into a massive military parade complete with 60-ton M1 Abrams battle tanks and Paladin self-propelled howitzers rolling through the city streets.<\/p>\n

Multiple counter-protests of varying sizes are planned for Saturday, with the largest being a mass march to the White House dubbed the No Kings<\/a> rally. Officials say they are also on alert for signs that the immigration-related clashes<\/a> between law enforcement and protesters currently roiling Los Angeles would spread.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re paying attention, obviously, to what is happening there. We’ll be ready,\u201d McCool said. \u201cWe have a robust plan for civil disobedience.\u201d <\/p>\n

Agent Phillip Bates of the FBI’s Washington Field office, which is tasked with counterterrorism and crisis management, said there were \u201cno credible threats\u201d to the event at the moment. <\/p>\n

Lindsey Appiah, the deputy mayor for public safety, told The Associated Press last week that the city had longstanding plans for the Army birthday celebration. But those plans \u201cgot a lot bigger on short notice\u201d when Trump got involved.<\/p>\n

Still, Appiah said the city has grown \u201cvery flexible, very nimble\u201d at rolling with these sort of changes. <\/p>\n

____<\/p>\n

For more details, including road closures and security restrictions, go to: www.nsse.dc.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON — As the nation’s capital cleans up from the culmination of World Pride this past weekend, focus now shifts to a very different massive event \u2014 Saturday’s military parade to honor the 250th birthday of the Army and the 79th birthday of President Donald Trump. \u201cWe\u2019re preparing for an enormous turnout,\u201d said Matt McCool […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10928,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10926\/revisions\/10928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}