War Secretary Pete Hegseth is expanding the National Guard’s vehicle presence in Washington, D.C., with a deployment of military boats and wheeled vehicles into the district to support the patrols.
The guidance “authorizes the use of up to 60 marked patrol cars, military tactical vehicles, up to 20 light towers and generators, and D.C. National Guard maritime boat assets in support of federal and local law enforcement operations,” a Pentagon official told the Washington Examiner.
Hegseth signed off on the deployment on Oct. 29, five days ahead of the midterm elections. Around 3,000 National Guard troops are stationed in Washington, D.C., after President Donald Trump launched the deployment as part of an effort to make the district safer in August 2025.
The deployment, aimed at cracking down on drug and gang crime, will take place through the remainder of the year, according to Politico.
The National Guard deployment is set to last for the remainder of Trump’s term, until the next president is inaugurated in January 2029. The current deployment of just over 3,000 National Guard troops is about 2,000 less than the number deployed during America’s 250th anniversary over the summer.
Many of the troops have come from other states, and local lawmakers have called on the newly elected Democratic governors of five of these previously red states to withdraw their deployments.
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Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser has been more amicable with the Trump administration over the past two years than she was during her first term, allowing the administration to deploy the National Guard into the district and disperse federal law enforcement throughout the city as part of its “safe and beautiful” initiative.
However, in early 2027, Bowser’s term will end, and socialist Mayor-elect Janeese Lewis George will be inaugurated. Lewis George has told local news outlets that she is willing to “work with anyone to the benefit of D.C. residents” but will also “stand up to anyone, including the president,” for that same reason.