Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has signed an order authorizing roughly 2,000 of the National Guard troops deployed to Washington, D.C., to carry weapons, two U.S. officials told NBC News.
In recent weeks, hundreds of National Guard members fanned out across the nation’s capital as part of what the White House has framed as an urgent crackdown on crime and lawlessness. The troops in Washington have been unarmed. They have mostly been sent out to assist local law enforcement officers in parts of Washington known for tourism, such as the National Mall.
The two U.S. officials said Hegseth’s authorization will be approved by the U.S. Marshals Service, an agency of the Justice Department. Guard members who are supporting law enforcement functions will likely carry weapons, whereas troops who are assigned to beautification tasks across the district likely won’t be armed, the officials told NBC News.
“At the direction of the Secretary of Defense, JTF-DC members supporting the mission to lower the crime rate in our Nation’s capital will soon be on mission with their service-issued weapons, consistent with their mission and training,” a U.S. defense official said, using the acronym for Washington’s joint task force.
The task force confirmed on Friday that guard members will carry M17 pistols “intended for personal protection.”
"Guard members receive initial, regular, ongoing and refresher training, as well as complete annual weapons qualifications, prior to carrying weapons," the joint task force noted in a statement.
The deployment of National Guard members to Washington has drawn intense criticism from Democratic leaders, who say the move is a clear case of executive overreach. The National Guard is traditionally focused on domestic crises such as national disasters and civil unrest.
Mayor Muriel Bowser has pointed to Washington police data showing that violent crime has decreased 26% compared with last year. The Justice Department launched an investigation into whether the district’s police department manipulated crime data to make crime rates seem lower.
Bowser’s spokesman declined to comment on Hegseth’s order.
Trump greeted dozens of law enforcement personnel and National Guard troops in Washington on Thursday, thanking them for what he described as a strong start to his administration’s anti-crime and beautification measures.
“I feel very safe now, and I’m hearing people are very safe,” Trump told the crowd while flanked by senior administration officials, later adding: “You people are winners, and I just think it’s such an honor to be with you. We’re going to make Washington, D.C., great again.”
Trump implied the troops would remain in Washington for at least six months.
“You do the job on safety, and I’ll get this place fixed up physically, and we’re going to be so proud of it at the end of six months,” the president said.
Hegseth, for his part, visited roughly 300 mobilized Guard members at the D.C. Armory on Thursday.
Seventy-six people were arrested in Washington on Thursday night, a White House official said, bringing the total number of arrests since Trump’s law enforcement initiative started to over 700.
Thirty-six of the people arrested overnight were undocumented immigrants, the official said.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration sent National Guard troops to Los Angeles to respond to protests around immigration raids.
The White House is simultaneously attempting to exert more control over Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department, one of the largest municipal police forces in the country. The president has long blasted what he presents as out-of-control crime in cities governed by Democratic mayors.
Hegseth’s order authorizing federal troops to carry weapons had been expected. Two officials previously told NBC News that some troops would begin to bear firearms.
