Security tightened up ahead of Obama inauguration in Washington D.C.

Source: Xinhua | 01-16-2009 08:06

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Though no credible threat to any inaugural event or to President-elect Barack Obama has been detected, U.S. authorities are tightening up security in the capital city ahead of the Jan. 20 Obama inauguration.

Authorities have assigned more than 20,000 police officers, National Guard troops and plainclothes agents from more than 50 agencies to keep inauguration events safe, The New York Times reported Thursday.

The security measures, enhanced by a White House announcement of emergency financing for public safety, are by far the most extensive and stringent for the swearing-in of a president.

It's also a task vastly complicated by a crowd that is expected to reach two million to four million people, who will face successive rings of security, each more restrictive than the last before they get near inaugural events.

The security is especially tight in part because the event is the inauguration of the first African-American president.

The 240,000 people with tickets to the swearing-in and the thousands of additional people with tickets to watch the parade are only a fraction of the numbers expected to walk or take buses or subways to the National Mall.

Most of those without tickets will watch on 20 Jumbotrons placed on the Mall.

The security plan covers not just the events on Jan. 20, but also the welcome concert for Obama on Jan. 18 at the Lincoln Memorial, which is expected to draw as many as half a million people, and nearly 100 official balls, concerts and receptions that will not end until the early morning hours of Jan. 21.

Aside from staging a large police presence, authorities will also deploy 155 teams of plainclothes agents throughout the region including at Metro subway stations in the outer suburbs of Virginia and Maryland.