DC Guard slated to deploy by mid-week, defense official says

Interview with Major General Randy Manner, U.S. Army (Ret.)

Military Times

Aug 11, 2025

The Army has activated about 800 D.C. National Guard soldiers to support law enforcement across the nation’s capital, where President Donald Trump has declared a public safety emergency despite the city’s mayor saying crime there is on the decline.

A defense official told Military Times on Monday that troops should arrive by midweek, with “mission planning ongoing.”

Between 100-200 soldiers at any given time will be supporting law enforcement with administrative tasks, logistics and physical presence, according to the Army.

“They will be strong, they will be tough and they will stand with their law enforcement partners,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the White House on Monday.

Hegseth added that the Department of Defense was prepared to bring in other National Guard units, but Army and National Guard officials told Military Times that they were unaware of which units he was referencing….

Former military officers have suggested that Trump is deploying the Guard to “distract” from a series of domestic challenges surrounding the president, ranging from his association with deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to his decision to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after repeatedly claiming the lower-than-expected August job report was “rigged.”

Retired Maj. Gen. Randy Manner, who served as vice chief of the National Guard Bureau, told Military Times 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 president is creating a diversion of a make believe, fake situation,” he said. “This is not a real emergency.”