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Recently it has been in the news that Biden's inauguration could feature more than 2,500, more than 5,000, more than 10,000, 20,000, 25,000, or even 30,000 national guardsmen in DC.

It's hard to contextualize these numbers because I'm not sure what is normal.

How many soldiers were present in DC for past inaugurations?

I am mainly interested in the more recent presidents (say, back to Clinton) as I think they will be most relevant in the comparison. I am also interested if there is any specific reason why a president has more or less than usual.

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    You seem confused. It’s Biden’s inauguration, presidents don’t have private bodyguards, and the National Guard was called up based on specific security concerns
    – divibisan
    Commented Jan 20, 2021 at 4:25
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    @divibisan It's not clear to me what you are implying there. No other president had any national guard? National guard are used regardless of other security forces? That doesn't seem to be congruent with what I've read elsewhere.
    – user35939
    Commented Jan 20, 2021 at 5:38
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    Present where exactly? Answers to this question could well compare apples to oranges if the location is only vaguely defined.
    – time takes its toll
    Commented Jan 20, 2021 at 6:39
  • @Fizz DC, but if you have a better suggestion I'm all ears. I know this makes the question more difficult, so if you do have apples and oranges then write them in the answer and let people do their own comparisons.
    – user35939
    Commented Jan 20, 2021 at 6:55

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According to wiki Obama's first inauguration had a combination of Police, FBI, Secret Service, TSA, and National Guard combined to handle security.

The police presence in the District of Columbia temporarily doubled, augmented by the addition of 8,000 police officers from around the United States. The police force was assisted by 1,000 FBI agents to provide security for the event,[19][142] and the Secret Service Countersniper team was assigned to hidden locations throughout the area.[200] The Transportation Security Administration had over 300 officers from its National Deployment Force on hand to assist the Secret Service with security inspections of attendees entering the National Mall.[201] Ten thousand National Guard troops were on site, with 5,000 troops providing security duty in a ceremonial capacity and 1,300 unarmed troops aiding Park Police in crowd control at the National Mall. C Company of the 1–175 Infantry provided security between the first and second public viewing areas of the National Mall at the 7th Street, N.W. intersection, while the remaining members performed other security functions.

I am not sure about other presidents as I'm having trouble finding sources.

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  • A user has said that national guard are only deployed when there is a specific security concern. I tried to verify this and I couldn't find any reason explaining who Obama deployed the National Guard. As far as I can tell there are always National Guard at inaugurations, so it's possible there are some behind the scenes assassination threats or something which they are working against, but again I couldn't find any proof of that.
    – user35939
    Commented Jan 20, 2021 at 5:46