Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has signed a memo authorizing National Guard troops deployed in Washington, D.C., to carry weapons if their mission requires it.
Two U.S. defense officials stressed to Military Times that Guard leadership in the nation’s capital has not issued an order to arm Guard members, who currently remain unarmed, but that status could change in the coming days.
The memo, according to one official, was addressed to the chief of the National Guard Bureau and the Secretary of the Army.
Hegseth’s decision would allow the roughly 2,000 troops now mobilized in Washington to expand their operations, which are currently in low-crime tourist areas, to possible security patrols in neighborhoods that struggle with crime.
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Another official, speaking to Military Times on condition of anonymity, said the service would likely carry SIG Sauer M17 service pistols as opposed to longer guns. Guard members in the nation’s capital do not have law enforcement authorities.
The news comes as Trump early Friday threatened a full “federal takeover” of Washington and accused D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser of providing “inaccurate crime figures.”
“Washington, D.C. is SAFE AGAIN!” Trump wrote on his Truth social. “Mayor Muriel Bowser must immediately stop giving false and highly inaccurate crime figures, or bad things will happen, including a complete and total Federal takeover of the City! Washington D.C. will soon be great again!!!”
Bowser has shared data showing that violent crime has decreased in the city since a rise two years ago.
“We’re at a 30-year violent-crime low. We’re not satisfied. We haven’t taken our foot off the gas and we continue to look for ways to make our city safer,” Bowser said last week.
More than 800 members of the D.C. Guard have been deployed, along with about 1,200 Guard members coming from Republican-led states, including Tennessee, South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, West Virginia and Ohio.
In a visit to Guard personnel on Thursday, President Donald Trump suggested the military personnel would be playing a larger role in law enforcement in the city. He also suggested the troops could stay for six months or longer.
“You do the job on safety, and I’ll get this place fixed up physically, and we’re going to be so proud of it at the end of six months,” he told law enforcement and troops who had gathered to hear him speak.
Retired Maj. Gen. Randy Manner, who served as vice chief of the National Guard Bureau, told Military Times last week that the crime situation in Washington falls far short of “any emergency criteria that has ever been used” to deploy the Guard during or after his 35-year career.
The cost for a deployment of about 2,000 Guard soldiers averages around $20 million per month, Manner said, and could negatively impact readiness by taking money away from Guard drills and individual training.
The Army did not provide cost estimates for the deployment.
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