Author: Retired Major General Randy Manner
On August 11, 2025, Donald Trump ordered the deployment of the D.C. National Guard to the District, in a brazen power grab based on a phony emergency.
Over the coming months, governors of multiple states agreed to deploy their Guard troops to the District. A force that started around 500 reached a peak of more than 4,000 this summer, and the Pentagon recently announced that the deployment will continue until January 2029.
“This mission never would have been approved under any other administration. It is wrong,” Ret. Major General Randy Manner said. “It is an improper use of government taxpayer money. And it reduces the readiness of our military.”
Major General Manner, U.S. Army (ret.), served his country for 36 years, first as an active-duty soldier and officer and then in the Virginia National Guard. He served as the deputy commanding general of all U.S. Army forces in Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan and rose as high as the acting vice chief of the National Guard Bureau. He deployed to the Pentagon after the attacks of September 11, 2001, arriving while “the building was still smoldering,” he said.
Now, he’s speaking out against the Trump administration’s deployment of National Guard troops in the District of Columbia.
Ret. Major General Manner sees a force that is being completely misused, in contrast with democratic values.
“The National Guard is trained for combat operations in overseas theaters. They have heavy weaponry. They know how to engage with and destroy the enemy. They are not trained in community policing,” Manner said. “And while it is true that they can be there to supplement or augment local law enforcement, that is intended to be in back offices with communications, traffic control, and other areas, and not meant to be an on-the-ground presence the way it is being done in the District of Columbia."
Along with the misuse of the military, Ret. Major General Manner also sees the mission in D.C. as a waste of taxpayer dollars. According to the nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight, the deployment could cost more than $3 billion between now and January 2029.
“I was appalled by the continuing disregard for law and the standards of when we should be using our military by this administration. This is totally inappropriate,” Manner said. “It reduces the readiness of our military by having them do missions that, quite frankly, we could have security guards doing at one-fifth of the cost of training and operational cost of using the National Guard.”
The District of Columbia has sued the Trump administration, challenging the deployment as an illegal use of presidential power, and the ACLU of D.C. argued on the side of the District by filing a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of a broad coalition of local advocates. Last year, a federal district court issued a preliminary injunction against the deployment; however, the appeals court stayed that decision while the administration appeals the district court ruling.
The troops’ lack of training in policing was on display when members of the Idaho National Guard detained, arrested, and assaulted Anna King, a retired Army captain and Purple Heart recipient, in front of her home in May. The assault by the troops left King with torn ligaments in her wrist and emotional distress, injuries from which she is still recovering. Consequently, the ACLU of D.C. filed a complaint with the Department of Defense and Idaho National Guard on King’s behalf in July.
As of August 1, National Guard troops from 15 states, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico were patrolling the District. Manner sees troops from out-of-state with no connection to the community.
“They don’t really understand the local needs and opportunities, and it’s difficult for them to connect to the people,” he said.
With decades of experience, Manner believes in the intended purpose of the National Guard – to serve their local communities in emergencies and, when necessary, supplement the military’s active-duty forces overseas.
“When those resources are pulled from a state, that means there are fewer resources available to the governor to respond to natural disasters such as hurricanes, fires, tornadoes, earthquakes, and so on,” Manner said. “Our Guardsmen joined the military to learn a skill, to serve their country, perhaps to get an education, and to serve their community. Being on the streets of the District of Columbia was not part of that expectation.”
Ret. Major General Manner offers a call to action for every American who thinks the deployment in D.C. should end.
“Americans should not tolerate armed military on our streets,” he said. “Call your governor. Call your federal representative and senator. Reach out to them and express that this is not America, and it must end."
Manner has a clear message about what he has seen:
“We need to remove the National Guardsmen from the streets of American cities.”
