Generic Washington scene showing the Washington Monument and Reflecting Pool, not National Guard members or a deployment. Photo: Harrison Mitchell / Unsplash.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 5, 2026 – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has authorized expanded National Guard equipment and operations in Washington through the end of 2026, including boats, several dozen marked police cars, Humvees and light and medium tactical vehicles, according to an Oct. 29 memorandum obtained by POLITICO and reported Thursday.
The authorization expands the equipment available to troops supporting federal law enforcement in the capital. It does not announce an increase in troop numbers, and Guard members remain barred from making arrests or pursuing suspects, according to the report.
Boats for perimeter security, not independent arrests
The boats are intended to provide perimeter security for federal law enforcement operations targeting suspected gang leaders and drug traffickers in the Anacostia area of southeastern Washington, POLITICO reported. Federal officers must be aboard Guard vessels to make arrests, including when a suspect tries to escape into the river.
The memo bars the vessels from conducting surveillance of U.S. citizens, according to the report. The expanded authorization also leaves in place prohibitions on bayonets, intelligence assets, helicopters and law enforcement activity by Guard troops.
Hegseth, who heads the Defense Department as defense secretary, authorized the equipment for a mission that already includes armed Guard patrols in support of law enforcement. The equipment expansion does not give troops the arrest powers of the officers they support.
A year-end equipment authorization within a longer deployment
The equipment and operations authorization runs through the end of this year. That deadline is separate from the broader Guard deployment, which POLITICO said is expected to continue through Inauguration Day in January 2029.
President Donald Trump first deployed Guard troops to Washington in August 2025 after declaring a crime emergency. The mission has since been extended several times, according to the report.
Defense Department officials told Sen. Elizabeth Warren in August that Guard deployments were expected to cost about $1.4 billion through the end of 2028, POLITICO reported. That earlier estimate is background to the continuing mission, not a new funding announcement in the Oct. 29 memo.
The National Guard Bureau referred questions to the Pentagon. The Pentagon and White House did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s requests for comment. JBizNews has not independently reviewed the memorandum. The report did not establish why the administration authorized the expansion when it did.
JBizNews Desk | Washington
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