National Security Leaders for America Declares Portland Guard Deployment Legally Unjustified and an Alarming Normalization of Uniformed Troops Patrolling U.S. Cities

September 29, 2025

Washington, DC, September 29, 2025, National Security Leaders for America (NSL4A)  strongly condemns President Trump’s unilateral decision to deploy National Guard forces to Portland, Oregon, which endangers our democracy, misuses our military, and disregards the rule of law. This deployment is disruptive to National Guard members and their families, disrupting their training and preparedness, and reducing the nation’s ability to defend itself against real enemies. 

“Let us be clear: deploying troops into American cities must be grounded in law, not driven by political considerations,” said NSL4A President and founder, retired Rear Admiral Mike Smith. “Federalizing the National Guard over a governor’s objection is only permitted under narrow legal conditions—namely, in response to a rebellion, an invasion, or when civilian authorities are demonstrably unable to enforce the law. That threshold has not been met in Portland. The Guard is meant to protect Americans in true emergencies, not to serve as a tool of domestic enforcement absent lawful justification.”

“The Administration’s actions in Portland and elsewhere lead to a false sense that having troops patrolling our city streets is normal, when, in fact, it is totally contrary to our Constitutional order,” said Admiral Smith.  “It is an incremental devaluation of our civil society and threatens increased federal and even military control of civilian functions as well as pulling the Guard away from essential training and preparedness, weakening military readiness, and undermining the fundamental democratic principle that separates military force from domestic governance.”

This action is not only dangerous. It is ineffective.

The National Guard is not a presidential police force. Its members are citizen-soldiers, trained to respond to real emergencies—natural disasters, national defense—not to patrol neighborhoods or project federal power. Their presence on city streets does not reduce crime. It suppresses speech, chills dissent, and fosters fear among the very communities they are sworn to protect. 

NSL4A veterans have seen the harm caused when uniformed troops operate among civilians abroad. Using those tactics at home treats our citizens as enemies, not fellow Americans.

And above all, this action is legally unsound.

The authority cited—Title 10 U.S. Code § 12406—applies only in rare and extreme cases of rebellion, invasion, or when civilian law enforcement is truly unable to function. That is not the case in Portland. Invoking it now defies both the letter and spirit of the law and exposes Guard members to legal jeopardy under the Posse Comitatus Act—a felony offense.

NSL4A urges Congress, the courts, governors, and military leaders to reject this misuse of military force. We call on all Americans to stand firm in defense of democratic norms. Our streets need real public safety solutions—not soldiers. Our democracy is protected not by boots on sidewalks, but by leaders who uphold the rule of law and know when to say no.