00:00OK. Miles upon miles of protective fences are already being rolled out for the president-elect's inauguration on Monday.
00:06Security will be tighter than ever, that's according to the Secret Service.
00:09CBS News got a behind-the-scenes look at some of the preparations you might not see,
00:12including how they get ready for scenarios involving possible radiological or even nuclear dangers.
00:19Nicole Skanga is CBS News' Homeland Security and Justice reporter and she joins me now.
00:23So I'm sad we're not showing your piece, Nicole,
00:26because you really went into some great detail about what is on track to become
00:32probably the biggest operation that the Secret Service has undertaken in many years.
00:36So what is the security posture for this year's inauguration?
00:40Vlad, it's so good to be with you.
00:43And not only is this the biggest event for the U.S. Secret Service, which is the lead here,
00:47but it's also a really historic moment.
00:50I mean, we always talk about the inauguration being this big security event,
00:54but it's what is happening around the inauguration.
00:57So we have had what is called a national special security event,
01:01three of these in the course of 15 days.
01:04We had January 6th and the certification of the electoral count.
01:08Then we had former President Jimmy Carter's funeral, now the inauguration.
01:12And that really puts quite a lot on the U.S. Secret Service
01:16and other federal and local law enforcement in this area.
01:20I sat down with assistant special agent in charge, Michael Thomas.
01:24He is the coordinator of the inauguration. Take a listen.
01:30Oh, I'm sorry. I'm told we don't have that sound,
01:33but essentially what the assistant special agent in charge said in our conversation
01:37is just this event does not compare with those of the past.
01:41And I want to run through some of the numbers here.
01:43So 25,000 law enforcement and military personnel will be on the ground.
01:487,800 National Guard members authorized to respond.
01:524,000 officers, Vlad, that are coming from outside of Washington, D.C.
01:57And then there's the icy, icy Potomac.
02:00We were out with the U.S. Coast Guard a few days ago.
02:02They have 300 personnel on standby, 25 marine vessels ready to go.
02:07Swarms of drones, and you mentioned this earlier,
02:1030 miles of anti-scale fencing around the White House,
02:14around the Capitol, around federal buildings.
02:16It's almost enough to get here to Baltimore, Vlad.
02:20Fascinating. Nicole Scania, excellent reporting as always.
02:23We really enjoyed your piece this morning on the show.
02:25Thanks so much.
02:26Thank you.
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