DC mayor says she’s concerned about threats to residential neighborhoods

Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) said Sunday that despite heavy security around federal facilities, she is concerned about potential terror attacks elsewhere in the city, particularly residential areas.

“I’m not only concerned about other state capitals, I’m also concerned about other parts of Washington D.C.,” Bowser said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “What you’re showing is really the federal enclave of Washington D.C., not where the 700,000 of us live. So our police department working with our federal law enforcement partners and the United States Army, quite frankly, also has a plan to pivot if we have any attacks in our neighborhoods.”

NBC’s Chuck Todd went on to ask Bowser how long the city would maintain its heavy security measures, particularly as tourist traffic increased in the spring. Bowser responded that the U.S. needed to reckon with how seriously it took the threat of far-right domestic extremism.

“I think what we saw here last week is that we didn’t take it seriously enough. We’ve never believed that so-called ‘patriots’ would attempt to overthrow their government and kill police officers,” she said. “But that’s exactly what happened.”

WATCH: Mayor @MurielBowser says she is concerned about attacks in “other parts of Washington DC” outside the federal enclave. #MTP

“Our police department working with federal law enforcement and U.S. Army … has a plan to pivot if we have any attacks in our neighborhoods.” pic.twitter.com/kyBMbwK6KB

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) January 17, 2021

“And so I do think we have to take another posture in our city that is more domestic terrorist focused than external to our country and act accordingly. Now, we don’t want to see fences. We definitely don’t want to see armed troops on our streets. But we do have to take a different posture,” she continued.

The U.S. Capitol and the surrounding area has been transformed into a military zone ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Police have stepped up security after a pro-Trump mob overwhelmed police to storm the building earlier this month, and seven-foot barriers have been set up around the Capitol, its office buildings, and the Supreme Court.

National Guard troops will number as much as 25,000 in Washington, D.C. this week, and many of them will be armed.