Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has cleared the National Guard to roll out boats, Humvees, light medium tactical vehicles and several dozen marked police cars in Washington, D.C., expanding President Donald Trump’s crackdown in the nation’s capital.
The Oct. 29 memo, obtained by Politico, stretches the Guard’s role in ways that could further “blur the line” between its military and law enforcement work, the outlet reported. The memo gives no reason for expanding the mission now, beyond reaffirming Trump’s push against what he has called a “crime emergency” in the city.
The added vehicles, which will stay through the end of the year, are the kind U.S. troops drove “on battlefields like Iraq and Afghanistan,” Politico reported. Guard members will use them to back up officers making drug busts, though they still can’t pursue suspects or make arrests.
The memo assigns Guard boats to “perimeter security” while police move against suspected gang leaders and drug traffickers in Anacostia, on the city’s southeast side. Hegseth wrote that federal officers “must always be on board” Guard vessels “to help arrest a criminal suspect,” including anyone trying to get away by jumping into the river. The boats may not be used to surveil U.S. citizens.
Even with the expansion, Guard members can’t carry bayonets, use intelligence assets, employ helicopters or conduct law enforcement activity, according to Politico.
Guard troop levels in the city have risen and fallen since Trump first sent them in August 2025, topping out near 5,000 this summer with help from 20 states and Puerto Rico. The mission is now expected to run through Inauguration Day 2029.
Robberies and thefts have dropped since the deployments began, but homicides have held steady and assaults with dangerous weapons rose slightly, according to an October Cato Institute report cited by Politico.
The National Guard Bureau referred questions to the Pentagon, and the Pentagon and White House did not immediately respond to Politico’s requests for comment.
The memo surfaced as Hegseth’s own future is in question. Trump has asked advisers whether Hegseth should stay on after Republicans’ midterm losses, which Vice President JD Vance blamed on the Iran war, CBS News reported. Trump has denied reports that he plans to replace Hegseth, and the White House said the president has “full confidence” in him.
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