Pittsburgh To Get National Guard Protection During G-20

Pittsburgh To Get National Guard Protection During G-20
Troops Coming To Pittsburgh To Help With Security
WPXI.com
September 3, 2009

The Pennsylvania National Guard will be joining Pittsburgh police officers from around the area to protect the city during the G-20 Summit.

VIDEO: G20 To Get National Guard Protection

Channel 11 News reporter Alan Jennings confirmed that a contingent of 2,000 soldiers, mostly made up of the 2nd Brigade combat team of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard and the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, will hit the streets during G-20 to augment the 4,000-officer police force.

“At this point we’re looking at a battalion sized joint task force,” said Lt. Col. Don Accamando, spokesman for the Pennsylvania National Guard.

The Guard will be providing assistance with crowd control, traffic, defensive terrorist tactics, and equipment to sense biological and chemical weapons.

“There are an array of skills that we do bring to the table … extraction capability if we got into consequence management, we’d be able to respond as well there,” said Accamando.

The Guards told Channel 11 News that it will be in Pittsburgh at the beginning of the week of the G-20 in uniform.

There was a similar contingent from the Pennsylvania Army and Air Guard that was called upon to protect President Barack Obama at his presidential inauguration.

The Guard said its a mission first and foremost of just simply allowing peaceful protestors to be seen and heard according to the colonel.

“In this case, it’s everybody’s goal that the G-20 comes off safe not only for the participants of those great nations but also for the citizenry of the city of Pittsburgh,” said Accamando.