WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump activated the DC National Guard today with approximately 800 troops expected to start appearing throughout the nation’s capital within days.
“Mr. President, it’s an honor to be here and, at your direction, this morning we mobilized the DC National Guard,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the White House. “You will see them flowing into the streets of Washington in the coming week, [and] … there are other units we are prepared to bring [in] — other National Guard units, other specialized units. They will be strong, they will be tough, and they will stand with their law enforcement partners.”
Hegseth’s comments came just after Trump signed two executive orders — one placing DC police under federal control and the second mobilizing the DC National Guard — in response to what he claimed was a “crime emergency” in the nation’s capital. Despite that assertion, violent crime in DC has been on the downswing.
“One of their main formations is a military police battalion, that’s helpful because police understand police,” one government official told Breaking Defense. “They’re going to understand what the other law enforcement officers need and how to help best support them.”
Army public affairs noted that it expects between 100-200 soldiers will support law enforcement at any given time.
“Their duties will include an array of tasks from administrative, logistics and physical presence in support of law enforcement,” the service wrote in a brief statement.
Beyond that, the Army and administration are still sorting though just what they will be doing. For example, DC National Guard soldiers may be used to secure federal buildings, which would free up other law enforcement personnel to assist the metro police.
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“Safety and security are what we’re hoping for and whether some of that includes logistics and administrative support … such as driving vehicles or processing paperwork, it will free up those cops to do police officer work and federal agent tasks,” the government official explained.
The recent mobilization of the National Guard in LA could be a model for what happens next in DC, the government official added, though that came at a time of protests in California in response to Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.
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