States begin activating National Guard after FBI warns of armed protests at capitols Staff and wire reports January 13 A member of the Washington National Guard stands at a fence surrounding the Capitol in anticipation of protests Monday, Jan. 11, 2021, in Olympia, Wash. (Ted S. Warren) Governors around the country began ramping up security at their state capitols, including activating their states’ National Guards, in preparation for what the FBI identified as massive armed protests planned in every state capital in the country leading up to Inauguration Day. The activations come in the wake of the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection by pro-Trump supporters at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., and ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. They are in addition to National Guard forces mobilized to D.C., where there are already about 6,200 National Guard soldiers and airmen from six states and the District of Columbia on the ground supporting civilian authorities, said Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, Chief of the National Guard Bureau.