Latest news with #NationalSpecialSecurityEvent
Hindustan Times
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Over 30 people hospitalised after Trump's $45mn military parade and birthday celebrations, here's why
DC officials reported that 31 people were hospitalized during the Army's 250th anniversary parade, which drew large crowds to the National Mall. The grand celebration on Saturday evening showcased a spectacular display of military strength and heritage. The event, strongly pushed by former President Donald Trump, featured a huge lineup including helicopters, military planes, 128 tanks, and over 6,000 soldiers marching proudly down Constitution Avenue. In total, 48 individuals were evaluated for medical issues throughout the event, though 17 did not require transportation to the hospital, as reported by FOX 5. Also Read: Trump Mobile released, T1 phone to be launched Sept 2025 | What do they offer? A spokesperson for the DC government revealed to FOX 5, 'The District of Columbia reports the following updates regarding its support for the Army's 250th birthday festival and parade.' They continued, "As of 9:00 p.m. on June 14, 2025: The District of Columbia Fire & EMS has had 48 patient contacts and 31 patient transports. Metropolitan Police Department has reported 0 arrests.' The spokesperson added, 'The National Special Security Event period has concluded; therefore, no additional updates will be provided regarding this activation period." The officials did not reveal the exact reason for the hospitalisations of over 30 people after Trump's military parade. The news comes after a shooting incident broke out during the "No Kings" protest in downtown Salt Lake City at 7:56 p.m. on June 14, 2025. Two peacekeepers (wearing neon green vests) noticed a man, later identified as Arturo Gamboa, 24, dressed in black. An "innocent bystander" was tragically killed during crossfire between the shooter and the peacekeeping team, as reported by USA Today. Also Read: Did Donald Trump dial to 'grossly incompetent' Tim Walz after tragic Minnesota shooting? To ensure security and manage the large crowds, authorities installed over 18 miles of anti-scale fencing and imposed extensive parking restrictions within several blocks of the parade route. Key areas such as the National Mall and Pennsylvania Avenue were also closed off to the public. The Secret Service estimated that approximately 200,000 people would attend the event. However, the exact number of attendees at the parade is yet to be revealed. There were no reports of any serious injuries, deaths or arrests were reported throughout Saturday, June 14.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
America Actually Does Do Military Parades. But Not Like This One.
It's been a generation since Washington last hosted a military parade. Literally. In 1991, when President George H.W. Bush staged a parade to celebrate victory in the first Gulf War, it was the weekend of my high school graduation. This month, as Donald Trump presides over a parade honoring the Army's 250th anniversary, my child is graduating amid identical D.C. concerns over road closures, visiting throngs, and chewed-up public streets. That's about where the similarities end. While Bush's parade drew a smattering of criticism — including tut-tutting about expenses and the sense that some attendees were more excited about the Patriot missiles than the actual troops — it was generally uncontroversial, even popular, despite Washington's heavily Democratic population. 'I don't remember any of the negativity that you're having right now,' said Jack Evans, a Democrat who represented downtown Washington on the city council at the time. 'People were excited. We'd won the war. It was all done.'That was then. This year, amidst political polarization, fear of terrorism, and general chaos, the vibes are different. On Wednesday, Matt McCool, the Special Agent in Charge of the Secret Service, outlined some of the precautions around the parade, which has been classified as a National Special Security Event, enabling local cops and federal agencies to work closely together on security. 'You will see 18-and-a-half miles of the anti-scale fencing, 17 miles of bike rack concrete barriers, 175 magnetometers and officers from federal, state and local agencies standing post,' McCool said, standing alongside a half-dozen uniformed law enforcement bigwigs at the city's emergency-management office. 'You may also notice multiple drones operating in the area.' Local police leaders say their departments are on full activation. Part of this is standard 21st century security theater. The parade coincides with an all-day festival on the National Mall where visitors can walk around a lot of pricey military hardware, making the crowd-management particularly complicated. McCool said agencies weren't aware of any specific threats or efforts to disrupt the celebration. But Trump himself fanned the sense of tension this week when he said that protests would be met with 'very heavy force.'No wonder the criticism is a lot more pointed than the mild stuff that greeted Bush. This weekend's parade has been blasted as a sign of incipient authoritarianism, a Soviet-style spectacle, and a blatant case of politicizing the military. 'A dictator-style military parade,' said California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff, all 'just to stroke his own ego,' according to Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth, herself an Army veteran. It doesn't help that it's all taking place amidst the controversial deployment of troops to Los Angeles — and in the wake of Trump's norm-busting speech at Fort Bragg on Wednesday, when he got troops cheering political refrains and booing former President Joe Biden, in apparent violation of Army regulations. And it especially doesn't help that the $45 million parade happens to take place on the president's birthday. A counter-protest group has dubbed it 'No Kings Day.' But, remarkably, they've organized protests everywhere but the nation's capital, which reduces the odds of a showdown with Trump. In a statement, the organizers said it was meant to 'draw a clear contrast between our people-powered movement and the costly, wasteful, and un-American birthday parade in Washington.' For their part, the military brass say they just want to celebrate the Army — and use its anniversary as a chance to invest in recruiting. 'The Army just touches so many different things,' Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said at a private event in Washington this week. 'The idea is that we get this one moment in time for so many Americans to see that. I think our marketing budget is $750 million. This marketing, this investment, is to tell upcoming young Americans, and Americans who are a little stuck in their life, about this alternative lifestyle of excellence that the Army offers them. To us, that will give us an incredible return on the investment.'As for the comparison to the over-the-top parades of hardware in North Korea or the former Soviet Union, Army Chief of Staff Randy George said it's unfair. 'I think if anybody sees this on TV, interacts with our troops, they will see that we're from every part of this country, doing every kind of thing,' he said. 'Yes, they have a parade and we have a parade. That's probably the only comparison that I would make.' He noted that the soldiers take part in local parades all the time, but just haven't done a big national one in ages. In other words: Why all the agita over a military tribute? It's not like Washington hasn't spent any time honoring our military in the intervening 34 years. During the endless foreign conflicts starting in 2001, we had fighter jet flyovers at football games, 'salute the troops' road races on suburban streets and color guards at Beltway banquets. Performative gestures of troop-respect are almost a Washington cliche nowadays among pols, media types, and socialites. Yet a city built for mass gatherings never threw a parade — which, according to a leading historian of the subject, reflects an important tradition in American culture, and might explain some of the polarization around this weekend. David Glassberg, a University of Massachusetts historian who studies American pageantry, says the country doesn't have the tradition of set-piece national military parades like China, Russia, or even France. 'The whole thing with Trump and the reviewing stand, I can't remember anything like that' in peacetime, Glassberg said. 'It's not something Americans have incorporated into their image. The idea that you're going to display weapons or tear up the streets with tanks, it's really rare.' The one exception: Parades, like in 1991, that celebrated soldiers' return following a victory — something we haven't seen a lot of lately. Glassberg said there were epic welcome-home parades after World War I and the Civil War. Since America didn't have much of a standing Army until the mid-20th century, those events were also extra poignant because many troops were going back to civilian life. 'This was really their last chance, marching in that parade,' he told me. The notion of a president hosting a peacetime parade was sufficiently unusual that, when Trump unsuccessfully embraced the idea during his first term, stalwart supporters voiced skepticism. South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham called such spectacles 'a sign of weakness' in dubious foreign regimes, adding that he wasn't 'interested in Russian-style hardware display.' 'Confidence is silent. Insecurities are loud,' Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy said back then. 'You don't have to show it off, like Russia does, and North Korea, and China.' In fact, big commemorative parades in general have faded in American life, not just in Washington. Manhattan used to host ticker-tape parades for all kinds of people, from visiting statesmen to returning astronauts to, yes, the Fourth Infantry Division when it came home from Korea. But in the 21st century nearly all of the infrequent honorees have been championship-winning New York sports teams. Inevitably, the unusualness of a peacetime parade is going to make people wonder why it's happening — something that, for skeptics of Trump, is going to lead them to a place of dark worries about militarism and striking is that so many of the political critics of the campaign seem to take it as a given that the optics of Saturday's spectacle will be politically good for Trump. It's why Democrats (and Republicans like Sen. Rand Paul) are griping about the price, and others are accusing him of inappropriately using soldiers as props. But given the historic oddness of big Washington parades, there's also a not-zero chance that the spectacle could seem alien and even troubling to viewers, a PR dud. Consider: An elderly leader, watching line after line of soldiers and hardware roll past, taking in their salutes, a potentate surrounded by courtiers. For most Americans, this kind of spectacle usually evokes military strongmen or politburo dinosaurs, and mostly involves countries we don't want to live in. It's not a great look. 'I think a lot of news media is going to be pointing that image out, running pictures of Kim Jong Un and Stalin and all that kind of stuff,' Glassberg said. All the same, he said Democrats could maybe learn a thing or two from the instinct behind Trump's embrace of the parade, if not from the event itself: Sometimes, it's politically useful to publicly celebrate things you like — people and triumphs that the broader public might also embrace. 'There's a whole language of commemoration that Dems are just in the wrong key about,' he said. 'They don't get it.' And even if the day is a smashing political success for Trump, it's not exactly certain that it heralds some permanent shift in either his standing or the politics of the military. After all, the popular president who hosted the joyous 1991 parade was turfed out of office less than 18 months later.
Politico
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Politico
America Actually Does Do Military Parades. But Not Like This One.
It's been a generation since Washington last hosted a military parade. Literally. In 1991, when President George H.W. Bush staged a parade to celebrate victory in the first Gulf War, it was the weekend of my high school graduation. This month, as Donald Trump presides over a parade honoring the Army's 250th anniversary, my child is graduating amid identical D.C. concerns over road closures, visiting throngs, and chewed-up public streets. That's about where the similarities end. While Bush's parade drew a smattering of criticism — including tut-tutting about expenses and the sense that some attendees were more excited about the Patriot missiles than the actual troops — it was generally uncontroversial, even popular, despite Washington's heavily Democratic population. 'I don't remember any of the negativity that you're having right now,' said Jack Evans, a Democrat who represented downtown Washington on the city council at the time. 'People were excited. We'd won the war. It was all done.' That was then. This year, amidst political polarization, fear of terrorism, and general chaos, the vibes are different. On Wednesday, Matt McCool, the Special Agent in Charge of the Secret Service, outlined some of the precautions around the parade, which has been classified as a National Special Security Event, enabling local cops and federal agencies to work closely together on security. 'You will see 18-and-a-half miles of the anti-scale fencing, 17 miles of bike rack concrete barriers, 175 magnetometers and officers from federal, state and local agencies standing post,' McCool said, standing alongside a half-dozen uniformed law enforcement bigwigs at the city's emergency-management office. 'You may also notice multiple drones operating in the area.' Local police leaders say their departments are on full activation. Part of this is standard 21st century security theater. The parade coincides with an all-day festival on the National Mall where visitors can walk around a lot of pricey military hardware, making the crowd-management particularly complicated. McCool said agencies weren't aware of any specific threats or efforts to disrupt the celebration. But Trump himself fanned the sense of tension this week when he said that protests would be met with 'very heavy force.' No wonder the criticism is a lot more pointed than the mild stuff that greeted Bush. This weekend's parade has been blasted as a sign of incipient authoritarianism, a Soviet-style spectacle, and a blatant case of politicizing the military. 'A dictator-style military parade,' said California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff, all 'just to stroke his own ego,' according to Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth, herself an Army veteran. It doesn't help that it's all taking place amidst the controversial deployment of troops to Los Angeles — and in the wake of Trump's norm-busting speech at Fort Bragg on Wednesday, when he got troops cheering political refrains and booing former President Joe Biden, in apparent violation of Army regulations. And it especially doesn't help that the $45 million parade happens to take place on the president's birthday. A counter-protest group has dubbed it 'No Kings Day.' But, remarkably, they've organized protests everywhere but the nation's capital, which reduces the odds of a showdown with Trump. In a statement, the organizers said it was meant to 'draw a clear contrast between our people-powered movement and the costly, wasteful, and un-American birthday parade in Washington.' For their part, the military brass say they just want to celebrate the Army — and use its anniversary as a chance to invest in recruiting. 'The Army just touches so many different things,' Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said at a private event in Washington this week. 'The idea is that we get this one moment in time for so many Americans to see that. I think our marketing budget is $750 million. This marketing, this investment, is to tell upcoming young Americans, and Americans who are a little stuck in their life, about this alternative lifestyle of excellence that the Army offers them. To us, that will give us an incredible return on the investment.' As for the comparison to the over-the-top parades of hardware in North Korea or the former Soviet Union, Army Chief of Staff Randy George said it's unfair. 'I think if anybody sees this on TV, interacts with our troops, they will see that we're from every part of this country, doing every kind of thing,' he said. 'Yes, they have a parade and we have a parade. That's probably the only comparison that I would make.' He noted that the soldiers take part in local parades all the time, but just haven't done a big national one in ages. In other words: Why all the agita over a military tribute? It's not like Washington hasn't spent any time honoring our military in the intervening 34 years. During the endless foreign conflicts starting in 2001, we had fighter jet flyovers at football games, 'salute the troops' road races on suburban streets and color guards at Beltway banquets. Performative gestures of troop-respect are almost a Washington cliche nowadays among pols, media types, and socialites. Yet a city built for mass gatherings never threw a parade — which, according to a leading historian of the subject, reflects an important tradition in American culture, and might explain some of the polarization around this weekend. David Glassberg, a University of Massachusetts historian who studies American pageantry, says the country doesn't have the tradition of set-piece national military parades like China, Russia, or even France. 'The whole thing with Trump and the reviewing stand, I can't remember anything like that' in peacetime, Glassberg said. 'It's not something Americans have incorporated into their image. The idea that you're going to display weapons or tear up the streets with tanks, it's really rare.' The one exception: Parades, like in 1991, that celebrated soldiers' return following a victory — something we haven't seen a lot of lately. Glassberg said there were epic welcome-home parades after World War I and the Civil War. Since America didn't have much of a standing Army until the mid-20th century, those events were also extra poignant because many troops were going back to civilian life. 'This was really their last chance, marching in that parade,' he told me. The notion of a president hosting a peacetime parade was sufficiently unusual that, when Trump unsuccessfully embraced the idea during his first term, stalwart supporters voiced skepticism. South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham called such spectacles 'a sign of weakness' in dubious foreign regimes, adding that he wasn't 'interested in Russian-style hardware display.' 'Confidence is silent. Insecurities are loud,' Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy said back then. 'You don't have to show it off, like Russia does, and North Korea, and China.' In fact, big commemorative parades in general have faded in American life, not just in Washington. Manhattan used to host ticker-tape parades for all kinds of people, from visiting statesmen to returning astronauts to, yes, the Fourth Infantry Division when it came home from Korea. But in the 21st century nearly all of the infrequent honorees have been championship-winning New York sports teams. Inevitably, the unusualness of a peacetime parade is going to make people wonder why it's happening — something that, for skeptics of Trump, is going to lead them to a place of dark worries about militarism and dictatorship. What's striking is that so many of the political critics of the campaign seem to take it as a given that the optics of Saturday's spectacle will be politically good for Trump. It's why Democrats (and Republicans like Sen. Rand Paul) are griping about the price, and others are accusing him of inappropriately using soldiers as props. But given the historic oddness of big Washington parades, there's also a not-zero chance that the spectacle could seem alien and even troubling to viewers, a PR dud. Consider: An elderly leader, watching line after line of soldiers and hardware roll past, taking in their salutes, a potentate surrounded by courtiers. For most Americans, this kind of spectacle usually evokes military strongmen or politburo dinosaurs, and mostly involves countries we don't want to live in. It's not a great look. 'I think a lot of news media is going to be pointing that image out, running pictures of Kim Jong Un and Stalin and all that kind of stuff,' Glassberg said. All the same, he said Democrats could maybe learn a thing or two from the instinct behind Trump's embrace of the parade, if not from the event itself: Sometimes, it's politically useful to publicly celebrate things you like — people and triumphs that the broader public might also embrace. 'There's a whole language of commemoration that Dems are just in the wrong key about,' he said. 'They don't get it.' And even if the day is a smashing political success for Trump, it's not exactly certain that it heralds some permanent shift in either his standing or the politics of the military. After all, the popular president who hosted the joyous 1991 parade was turfed out of office less than 18 months later.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Military parade is coming to DC soon. Officials gave a preview of what to expect
WASHINGTON − People attending the Army's 250th birthday celebration and military parade in the nation's capital have been warned: Everyone is getting scanned, watch out for drones and leave the emotional support animals home. The event, which will coincide with President Donald Trump's 79th birthday, is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people and thousands of federal agents, police officers and other security from across the country, said Matt McCool, special agent in charge of the Secret Service's Washington field office. Hundreds of military vehicles and aircraft, including tanks, will also be on hand for the parade − and so will metal detectors scanning anyone entering the area for weapons, McCool and other officials said at a June 9 news conference. More: Trump's military parade preparations underway as stage is set, tanks arrive in DC "One additional note, we'd ask the public, due to the large crowds, noise and the weather forecast, that for their safety, you leave your pets and emotional support animals at home," McCool said. "As always, service animals are welcome." There is a 50% chance of rain for Saturday, with partly to mostly cloudy weather with scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon, according to The parade, which will feature Army equipment, flyovers, musical performances and thousands of soldiers in uniforms from the past and the present, caps off a week of events designed to celebrate the country's military might. As a precaution, authorities are putting in place 18.5 miles of anti-scale fencing, 17 miles of bike rack concrete barriers and will be flying 'multiple' drones overhead to help with surveillance, McCool said. And while everyone will need to be screened before entering, McCool said 175 magnetometers will be in place to keep things moving. 'If a million people show up,' he said, 'there's going to be a line.' More: When is Trump's military parade? What to know ahead of June 14 McCool and other federal and local officials said they have no intelligence about any possible terrorist threats or the kind of violent protests now rocking Los Angeles that prompted Trump to call in the National Guard. "We're not expecting it. We have no intelligence of that happening here," McCool said in reference to protests. "But if it does, we have the resources to handle it." The National Guard already is being mobilized for the event because it has been designated as a National Special Security Event (NSSE) by the Department of Homeland Security – the fifth event in Washington to have such a designation this year, including the presidential inauguration. The Secret Service is the helm of the multi-agency effort, in close collaboration with the FBI, Capitol Police, D.C. police and city government – and military officials through the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region, which is part of U.S. Northern Command. By the morning of June 9, construction workers were erecting a stage along Constitution Avenue near the White House. Steel plates have been embedded in the asphalt to protect roads from 140,000-pound tanks. And the tanks themselves – and other military vehicles – had begun arriving by train. Col. Jesse Curry of the Army Corps of Engineers, said the military is doing all it can to make sure the tanks don't chew up DC streets, following complaints by city officials. That includes putting metal plating in areas where tanks have to make turns. Also, Curry said, padding will be put down in staging areas, and the tanks themselves have been fitted with new rubber track pads. 'This is our capital city as well, so we're committed to ensuring that we minimize any possible damage,' Curry said. So far, nine groups have registered with the National Park Service for protest permits. One of them is the National Black Justice Coalition, which is holding an "equity march" that will pass by the Lincoln Memorial and Freedom Plaza between the White House and the U.S. Capitol Building. Permits have been granted for a "Transgender Unity" march and "Refuse Fascism" protest in Lafayette Park before the parade, according to National Park Service documents shared with USA TODAY. McCool said he doesn't expect any trouble from protesters based on the information authorities have on hand. 'From a Secret Service perspective, if it's simply people using that First Amendment right to protest then we're not going to do anything with that,' McCool said. 'But if that turns violent, or if any laws are broken, that's when (DC police), Park Police, Secret Service will get involved, and that will be handled swiftly.' This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Expect scans, drones at Army's DC parade. But leave your pets home
Axios
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Trump military parade: Road closures, Metro disruptions, flight delays
President Trump's military parade is triggering widespread road closures, Metro disruptions, and a Saturday evening flight stop at Reagan National Airport. The big picture: Designated a National Special Security Event, the Saturday parade, which starts around 6:30pm, is expected to draw huge crowds and protests, with heavy security — including nearly 19 miles of barricades, several checkpoints and strict rules about what items can be carried inside the perimeter. Here's how it could affect your weekend travel: 🚗 Road closures and parking Parking restrictions near the White House and National Mall are already in effect. Some roads start closing Thursday at 6am, with additional shutdowns rolling through the weekend into Monday morning (6am). Major closures Friday (midnight) to Monday (6am) include: Independence Avenue between 23rd Street and 12th Street SW 14th Street south of Pennsylvania Avenue NW Rock Creek Parkway south of Virginia Avenue NW George Washington Parkway (both directions from U.S. 50 to I-395) is closed Friday 6pm to Sunday 6am. See a full list, including parking restrictions, here. 🚇 Metro The parade runs along Constitution Avenue NW between 15th and 23rd Streets. Metrorail: Operating normal Saturday service. Riders are strongly encouraged to use it. Smithsonian Station: Mall entrance is closed for security. The Independence Avenue entrance remains open. Bus routes with detours/delays: 7A, 10A, 16A, 16C, 16E, 22A, 32, 36, 70, 79, P6 📲 Download the MetroPulse App for real-time updates. ✈️ Reagan National Airport The FAA plans
