1) The plan is to keep the current National Guard contingent around the Capitol until mid-March. But Fox is told to anticipate the Guard to maintain a smaller footprint of soldiers at the ready after that.

2) Fox is told that contingent of forces may not always be at the Capitol complex but could be deployed quickly on campus if necessary.

“It’s naive to think that in the middle of March (the guard troops) go away,” said one source.

3) The problem is that the US Capitol Police force is overworked and still recovering from last month’s riot. Ranks are depleted. Morale is low. Officers are suffering from injuries – physical and mental.

4) Fox is told such a support team from the military is necessary to maintain security at the Capitol.

Fox is also told that at some point in the next month or so, the outer perimeter of fencing around the Capitol would likely come down.

5) But the fencing around the immediate Capitol grounds – from Constitution Avenue on the Senate side to Independence Avenue on the House side – would probably remain up until they figure out an overall fencing plan.

6) As colleague Jennifer Griffin reported, officials are looking at building a special fence which can be raised or lowered at a moment’s notice.

7) It’s unclear how much it will cost to have troops patrolling the Capitol and the the budget for additional fencing. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has been adamant that there will be a “supplemental spending bill.”

8) Congress creates a “supplemental” appropriations bill to cover the costs of unforeseen events, such as responding to natural disasters and war.

9) At some point, post-pandemic, the Capitol will start to get back to “normal.” But the current regimen of tracking of visitors in the Capitol is haphazard. F

10) Before the riot, the Capitol had already acquired a more expansive, electronic system to handle visitors coming to the Capitol for official purposes. It has just never been deployed.

11) This system would feature a color-coding badge system and establish what locations in the Capitol to which a a visitor has access.