National Security Leaders for America Condemns Trump’s Call to Use U.S. Cities as Military Training Grounds
September 30, 2025
Washington, DC, September 30, 2025, National Security Leaders for America (NSL4A) today unequivocally condemned the recent remarks made by President Donald J. Trump during a meeting with senior military officers at Marine Corps Base Quantico, as reported by The Associated Press and The New York Times.
In a moment that should alarm every American who values public safety, constitutional governance, and civilian control of the military, Mr. Trump reportedly said:
“We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.”
This statement is not merely inappropriate—it is profoundly un-American. The suggestion that American cities and their residents be used as live training environments for armed forces is a direct affront to the Constitution, the Posse Comitatus Act, and the foundational principles of civil-military relations in our Republic.
“The U.S. military is trained to fight and win the nation’s wars—not to patrol American neighborhoods, intimidate civilians, or serve partisan political aims,” said NSL4A founder and President retired Rear Admiral Mike Smith, “To even propose such a use of force betrays a dangerous disregard for the rule of law and the democratic norms that separate our military from domestic law enforcement functions.”
“Further,” Smith continued, “such ‘training’ deployments would put American civilians at risk of injury or worse. Training is where members of the armed forces can learn from mistakes. In an active, urban environment, such mistakes will harm the very people our men and women in uniform sign up to protect.”
Members of NSL4A—including retired military leaders, ambassadors, intelligence professionals, and foreign service officers—have served in regions around the world where governments used armed forces to “quell” dissent and control civilian populations. We have seen firsthand how such tactics erode national security, fracture civil society, and destroy public trust in both government and the military. We will not stand silent while these same authoritarian approaches are proposed for use here at home.
NSL4A also condemned delivering these remarks to a gathering of top generals and flag officers—raising serious questions about efforts to politicize the military and compel its leadership to adopt partisan loyalties or tolerate unconstitutional directives.
We state clearly:
U.S. cities are not training grounds.
The American people are not the enemy.
And the Armed Forces of the United States must never be used as tools of domestic repression.
NSL4A urges every military leader—active or retired—to reaffirm their oath to the Constitution and reject any attempt to blur the lines between national defense and domestic political enforcement. We implore Congress and the American public to remain vigilant against such dangerous proposals and to defend the institutions that safeguard our liberty.
