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As the National Guard's deployment to the Capitol enters its second month with no solid end yet in sight, GOP lawmakers are questioning whether thousands are uniformed troops are still needed to protect the Capitol.

On Wednesday, Arkansas GOP Senator Tom Cotton penned an op-ed for Fox News stating that the National Guard troops still in Washington should leave the Capitol grounds as soon as possible, despite Defense Department and local law enforcement plans.

"I'm aware of no specific, credible threat reporting... that justifies this continued troop presence," wrote Cotton, a former soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Thus, I believe the rest of these soldiers should also go home to their families and civilian jobs."

Cotton went on to say, "The lesson of the Capitol riot is not that we should quarter a standing army at the Capitol just in case, but rather that our security measures should be calibrated to the actual threats."

Cotton's op/ed came on the same day that 11 GOP House members requested a briefing from acting Army Secretary John Whitley on any ongoing threats to the Capitol as well as an explanation for why the National Guard troops were still in Washington, according to Defense News.

"The Guard has endured unprecedented stress on the force in the last year given COVID-19, social unrest, natural disasters, and ongoing overseas requirements," the group wrote. "The National Guard should be used as an option of absolute last resort."

Guardsmen began pouring into Washington D.C. on January 6 after supporters of Trump, incited to a murderous rage, stormed the Capitol Building. The Capitol Police and D.C. police were on their own with just a few hundred National Guard troops, brought in days before.

At the height of the deployment, about 26,000 Guardsmen were on hand patrolling Capitol Hill. Whitley told reporters there are "several upcoming events" the FBI is concerned about but deferred to the bureau for specifics.

The biggest "upcoming event" is Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate, set to start on February 9. Followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory are also pushing bogus claims Trump will be sworn in again on March 4, the original date of presidential inaugurations before the 20th Amendment moved it to January 20. As it turned out, with the military presence, the Inauguration ceremony went off without a hitch.

The Guard has now drawn down to about 7,000 members, according to Wayne Hall, a spokesperson for the National Guard Bureau. By mid-March, the number of activated troops will draw down to about 5,000, said Hall in an email to Military Times. The Guard will "continue supporting federal law enforcement agencies."

Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman this week recommended that security measures, including the fencing and unspecified "back-up" security forces stationed in "close proximity" to the building, become permanent. The suggestion was roundly rebuked by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle as well as D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.

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