Trump Signs Order Expanding Pentagon’s Role in Domestic Law Enforcement

On Aug. 25, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled, “Additional Measures to Address the Crime Emergency in the District of Columbia.” The order comes two weeks after the president declared a “crime emergency” in the District and suggests that the Trump administration intends to continue to expand the National Guard’s role in law enforcement across the country.

The order directs Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to “immediately create and begin training, manning, hiring, and equipping a specialized unit within the District of Columbia National Guard.” It also directs the “D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force” established in a March 27 executive order to set up an online portal that would allow “Americans with law enforcement or other relevant backgrounds and experience” to volunteer to aid federal agents in the capital.

The order continues:

The Secretary of Defense shall immediately begin ensuring that each State’s Army National Guard and Air National Guard are resourced, trained, organized, and available to assist Federal, State, and local law enforcement in quelling civil disturbances and ensuring the public safety and order whenever the circumstances necessitate, as appropriate under law.  In coordination with the respective adjutants general, the Secretary of Defense shall designate an appropriate number of each State’s trained National Guard members to be reasonably available for rapid mobilization for such purposes.  In addition, the Secretary of Defense shall ensure the availability of a standing National Guard quick reaction force that shall be resourced, trained, and available for rapid nationwide deployment.

Section 3 of the order directs the attorney general to review the orders of the Metropolitan Police Department and “request that the Mayor of the District of Columbia make such updates and modifications to such orders as the Attorney General determines are necessary.”

You can read the order here or below: