National Guard to use boats, Humvees in expanded DC presence

The National Guard will begin using boats, up to 60 marked police cars, and military tactical vehicles in Washington, D.C., after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized the move late last month, a Pentagon official confirmed to The Hill on Thursday.

Hegseth authorized the changes in an Oct. 29 memo first reported by Politico , though it is unclear what prompted the action that is sure to escalate the National Guard’s presence in the nation’s capital – and in some cases make it difficult to discern between military members and local police.

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,” the official said, adding that the capabilities would be in support of the White House’s Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful mission.

They did not say which military vehicles would be used, though Politico reported the memo as specifying Humvees and light medium tactical vehicles, equipment that is typically used on the battlefield.

Troops are not allowed to pursue suspects or make arrests using the military vehicles, which are to be in place through the end of the year, according to the outlet.

The added boats, meanwhile, will offer “perimeter security” for police pursuing suspected gang leaders and drug traffickers in the southeast area of the city known as Anacostia. The vessels will not be used to carry out surveillance on U.S. citizens, and Hegseth stipulates that federal officers “must always be on board” Guard vessels “to help arrest a criminal suspect” should they attempt to escape by jumping into the water, according to the memo, as reported by Politico.

The National Guard Bureau referred a request for comment to the Pentagon.

Just under 3,100 National Guard troops are in D.C. as part of a deployment since late last summer, when the federal government ⁠temporarily took ​over the city’s law ​enforcement through ‌presidential executive order. The number of guardsmen has fluctuated in the course of a year, swelling to roughly 5,000 ahead of the Fourth of July festivities.

Critics say the Guard’s presence is not only expensive — with the deployment projected to cost roughly $2.1 billion through the end of President Trump’s second term — but also unnecessary and ineffective at curbing violent crimes. Guardsmen can’t make arrests and largely patrol neighborhoods and tourist centers that typically have lower crime rates.

City officials, Democrats and civil liberty advocates also have called the mission an infringement on Americans’ civil liberties and lacking a clear strategy.

The ineffectiveness at curbing violent crime argument has been backed up by several studies, including one from the Niskanen Center in May . The policy think tank found that the guard’s presence helped drive down opportunistic property crime but found it was not the correct tool for violent offenses and comes at a far higher cost than traditional police law enforcement.

Then in July the Center for American Progress (CAP), a liberal think tank, released a report suggesting the National Guard deployments failed to reduce violent crime, findings Trump lashed out at .

More recently, the libertarian Cato Institute last month found that while robberies and theft fell in Washington since the Guard was first deployed, it didn’t shift the needle on homicides, and assaults with dangerous weapons actually went up.

Guard troops, a common sight as they conduct patrols in small groups throughout the city, are expected to remain in Washington through Inauguration Day 2029.