US National Guard members walk past American flags placed in the ground on the National Mall on January 18, 2021 in Washington, DC. (AFP photo)

Concerns are growing in the United States about possible infiltration of pro-Trump extremists into the US National Guard ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.

The Army National Guard removed 12 members from their role in the inauguration security, according to National Guard Bureau Chief Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson

If there’s any identification or anything whatsoever that needs to be looked into, out of an abundance of caution, we automatically pull those personnel off the line and make sure that they’re not part of the mission set, and in certain cases, we make sure that we get them sent home, Hokanson said.

Ten other individuals were flagged during an FBI vetting process, according to top Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman.

These are vetting efforts that identify any questionable behavior in the past or any potential link to questionable behavior not just related to extremism, Hoffman said alongside Hokanson. It’s a lot of looking back at anything that could potentially flag in a criminal history check, anything that could come up in a civilian database that’s being scrubbed by our partners. We’re not taking any chances. Anything flagged, if there’s any reason that somebody’s name is brought to the attention of the command, they’re being removed from the line.

Ten other individuals were flagged during an FBI vetting process, according to top Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman.

These are vetting efforts that identify any questionable behavior in the past or any potential link to questionable behavior not just related to extremism, Hoffman said alongside Hokanson. It’s a lot of looking back at anything that could potentially flag in a criminal history check, anything that could come up in a civilian database that’s being scrubbed by our partners. We’re not taking any chances. Anything flagged, if there’s any reason that somebody’s name is brought to the attention of the command, they’re being removed from the line.