Plans are in the works to bring former Metropolitan Police Chief Charles Ramsey to Capitol Hill to act as Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer’s representative to a new working group that will study ways to better protect Congress against potential terrorist attacks.

On Friday, Gainer enthusiastically supported the idea of Ramsey working out of his office on a part-time basis, saying he has “great respect” for his old boss at the MPD. Gainer, who served as Ramsey’s No. 2 before being tapped to head the Capitol Police in 2002, lauded Ramsey for his efforts to protect Washington, D.C., from all manner of foreign and domestic threats during almost nine years as the city’s police chief.

Gainer said Ramsey, who stepped down from the MPD in December, would bring a wealth of knowledge to the new working group that the Capitol Police Board is forming.

Ramsey’s move to the Hill was first reported in Friday’s edition of The Washington Post.

A spokeswoman for Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), the chairwoman of the Appropriations subcommittee on the legislative branch, said that as of Friday afternoon no formal contract with Ramsey had been finalized, but that there is precedent for such employment.

Former Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Bill Pickle continues to work out of his old office to help Gainer’s transition, and ex-Capitol Police Assistant Chief Robert Howe continues to work part-time for the House Sergeant-at-Arms.

— John McArdle