Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the National Guard to create “quick reaction” forces in every state and territory in the next several months, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
These forces will be trained and equipped to respond to riots and civil unrest, and each unit will be composed of approximately 500 soldiers. These forces will be trained to deploy on short notice, and according to the Journal‘s report, will be trained in nonlethal crowd control, the handling of detainees and the use of batons, stun guns and body shields.
President Donald Trump ordered Hegseth to establish the specialized units in August, and a September memo from Hegseth shows the Pentagon chief ordering the creation of a “National Guard Response Force” designed for “rapid mobilization as the circumstances require.”
“The Department of War will be prepared to immediately provide support to federal, state and local law enforcement to address threats of civil disturbance,” the memo read.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Pentagon for comment.
The forces, which will be established in all 50 states as well as Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, will be “prepared to deploy with 25% of the force in hours, 50% of the force in 12 hours and 100% of the force in 24 hours,” according to a memo seen by the Journal.
The president has repeatedly sought to mobilize the National Guard against American citizens, particularly in Democrat-controlled cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland, where residents have protested ICE raids in their areas.
Trump also sent the National Guard into Washington D.C. to combat what he argued was out-of-control crime in the capital, only for troops to occupy their time participating in beautification projects after finding themselves with nothing to do.
Speaking to Jen Psaki on MSNBC, Illinois National Guard captain Dylan Blaha, who has said he would defy orders if deployed in Chicago, called the quick reaction forces “something we don’t need in our communities” and urged other soldiers to disobey future unlawful orders.
Blaha called the establishment of these forces a “power grab,” telling Psaki, “Ultimately, we’re seeing an increased militarization of our American cities in a time when we don’t need it. People are struggling economically, and what they need is relief from that.”
In addition to the quick response forces, Trump has also argued that he would be within his rights to invoke the Insurrection Act in order to justify military takeover of American cities.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, the president said, “If I want to enact a certain act, I’m allowed to do it.”
“We haven’t chosen to do that because we’re doing very well without it, but I’d be allowed to do that, you know that, right? And the courts wouldn’t get involved. Nobody would get involved, and I could send the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines. I could send anybody I wanted.”
The legality Trump’s attempted deployment of the National Guard to both Portland and Chicago is still being argued in the courts. While Blaha acknowledged that resisting unlawful orders is difficult considering “illegality is always determined after the fact by a court of law,” he still urged his fellow soldiers to resist following unlawful orders.
“I’ve had a lot of members reach out to me in private… asking me for advice on what to do if they’re called to deploy, and I always tell them, ‘Don’t go against the American people, and don’t do anything that you know for certain is unlawful.‘“
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