Leaked DC Troop Deployment Order

Discontent among National Guard ordered to DC appears widespread

Trump at today’s press conference

District of Columbia National Guardsmen have been involuntarily ordered to report to duty at the DC Armory tomorrow through September 25, according to a copy of the order I obtained. Their purpose is to “protect federal property” and “support federal and District law enforcement,” the order says.

The directive follows Trump’s executive order this morning declaring a “crime emergency” in DC, for which reason Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a press conference that he would be deploying the National Guard. Though it wasn’t clear from their remarks what specifically the Guard’s mission would be, the order leaked to me shows that it will include the same federal protection and support to law enforcement mission as in the National Guard deployment to Los Angeles (which I also reported on extensively).

 “They are taking advantage of the fact that DC is not a state,” Joseph Nunn, counsel in the Brennan Center's Liberty and National Security Program, told me. “DC has even less control over its own affairs than other non-state US territories like Puerto Rico, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands.”

Unlike all U.S. states, DC doesn’t have a governor; so the president doesn’t need to seek their consent to activate the National Guard there.

 “All but one of them are by default, under the command and control of their state governor or territorial governor — the sole exception is DC,” Nunn said.

Concerning as that seems, Guardsmen I spoke to regard the deployment as pointless political theater. (California Guardsmen made the same point to me about their deployment earlier this summer.)

“Huge waste of time and money when their focus is [supposed to be] saving money,” a DC National Guard source told me.

If the nearly half dozen Guardsmen I’ve spoken to about the deployment are at all representative, frustration with the order is widespread. (The memo I obtained, along with other details, leaked almost immediately.) As in the case of Los Angeles, the soldiers seemed most incensed by how performative and unnecessary they saw the mission as. This opposition apparently led some but not all Guardsmen to decline other requests to deploy voluntarily.

“I said no immediately because it’s like signing up for the Gestapo,” the Guard source said. “But I’m sure people will volunteer because they need the money or benefits from being on orders over 30 days.”