The move suggests Donald Trump is doubling down on his claimed crime emergency in the nation’s capital after the election.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has authorized the National Guard to begin using boats, several dozen marked police cars, humvees and light medium tactical vehicles in the nation’s capital — an escalation of the troops’ presence that could further blur the line between their military and law enforcement role.
It’s not clear why the Trump administration is making the move now. The Oct. 29 memo obtained by POLITICO detailing the expansion doesn’t provide any further details beyond doubling down on Trump’s plan to use the National Guard to crack down on what he’s called a “crime emergency”in the nation’s capital.
The beefed-up presence, which will be in place through the end of the year, would see members of the National Guard driving vehicles typically used by U.S. troops on battlefields like Iraq and Afghanistan on city streets to support law enforcement officers making drug busts, though they are not allowed to pursue suspects or make arrests.


Iranian citizens are being shackled just as much by their own government as by the impact of Trump’s illegal war. Two wrongs don’t make a right, and Iranians deserve liberation from both.
Mostly the ones working with the Mossad and CIA to further destabilize them.
Also the ones running the country torturing and murdering protestors—along with women as an entire social class—for deviating from traditional values.