Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered National Guard troops to extend their mission in Washington, D.C., through February, according to multiple reports.
Hegseth’s order for more than 2,000 troops from around the country deployed to the District of Columbia was set to expire on Nov. 30, but earlier this week Hegseth issued the extension into 2026.
Hegesth’s order came weeks after NOTUS reported that Brig. Gen. Leland D. Blanchard II, the general in charge of the force deployed to D.C., instructed his troops to prepare to stay through the winter.
Neither the Department of Defense nor the mayor’s office replied to a request for comment.
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The deployment, which began in August, has already been extended once. District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb earlier this month sued over the deployment, arguing it was “a long-term law enforcement operation” and a “grave incursion on [the District’s] sovereignty.”
As of Thursday, there are 2,389 National Guard troops in the District, 960 from D.C. and 1,427 from seven states including Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Dakota and West Virginia, according to the District of Columbia National Guard
Mayor Muriel Bowser said in late August, and again in a five-hour testimony before the House Oversight Committee in September, that the increase in federal law enforcement has significantly reduced crime but that their presence has also rapidly destroyed community trust in police.
Though President Donald Trump and other administration officials have spoken repeatedly about the troops preventing crime, many National Guard members have been detailed to municipal projects.
In recent weeks, National Guard members assigned to Task Force Beautification were photographed completing trash cleanup and landscaping duties in federal parks around the District. As of early October, troops have collected 1,099 bags of trash and spread 1,045 cubic yards of mulch, according to Guard statistics.
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