Heightened airport security measures around inauguration in some cases include a second screening of passengers boarding flights, the Transportation Security Administration acknowledged to CNN.
The second check at the boarding gate is in addition to the standard screening procedures done at TSA checkpoints.
“This is a routine practice and represents one of the multiple layers of security that we employ,” agency spokesperson Carter Langston told CNN when asked about an account of TSA officers stopping passengers at the gate of a Washington-bound flight to check identification and bags.
“It may occur with greater frequency due to recent and upcoming events, but it is a routine practice,” Langston said.
The screening of DC-bound passengers is in addition to a heightened security and police presence at the three Washington-area airports that has included armored vehicles and a notable number of visible officers in terminals.
TSA told CNN on Monday that the agency is on “high alert.”
The developments come after rowdy incidents on airplanes and in airports as the rioters who ransacked the Capitol building traveled to and left Washington.
The Federal Aviation Administration has warned individuals who "interfere with, physically assault, or threaten to physically assault aircraft crew or anyone else on an aircraft face stiff penalties including fines of up to $35,000 and imprisonment."
Steven D'Antuono, a senior Federal Bureau of Investigation official in the nation’s capital, said Tuesday that officials are “actively looking at” adding rioters to the federal No Fly List.