Pentagon extends D.C. National Guard presence through 2029

Deployment cost climbs to $3 million per day

The Pentagon confirmed Monday that the National Guard will remain deployed in Washington, D.C., through Inauguration Day 2029 as part of President Donald Trump’s anti-crime mission, the agency told NPR.

Trump first ordered the National Guard to D.C. in August 2025 after declaring a “crime emergency” and launching the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, despite violent crime in the District having reached a 30-year low. The emergency declaration ended a month later, but the task force and troop presence continued. The number of deployed troops has since doubled to nearly 5,000 from more than 20 states, as part of a “summer surge” of law enforcement announced by federal officials in May.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the mission costs more than $3 million per day. The Project on Government Oversight, an independent watchdog, projects the total cost of the deployment through 2029 will range between $2.5 billion and $3.4 billion, depending on troop levels.

Two studies released this year questioned the deployment’s effectiveness in reducing crime. The nonpartisan Niskanen Center found that the visible military presence reduced opportunistic property crimes and vehicle break-ins by 24% but had no measurable effect on violent crime. A separate study published this week by the Center for American Progress concluded that the National Guard presence had little to no effect on violent crime, and that broader crime declines in the city were part of preexisting trends. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson dismissed the CAP study as “partisan hackery.”

Trump has repeatedly hailed the mission a success, claiming the city has “almost no crime anymore.”

Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, said the indefinite nature of the deployment raises concerns. “An emergency is a sudden, unforeseen, and temporary state of affairs. Announcing that an emergency will last for another two and a half years means it’s not an emergency,” Goitein said. She said the mission risks normalizing the use of the military as a domestic police force and expressed concern about the potential role of troops during the transition of power to a new president.

D.C. leaders have consistently opposed the deployment. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the D.C. Council have stated they did not request or approve the presence of troops. Ankit Jain, one of the District’s two non-voting senators, told NPR that troops are deployed without the consent of local elected representatives. “The fact that National Guard troops are being sent to a jurisdiction without the elected representatives of that jurisdiction even knowing that the troops are coming there, you would never see that happen in any other place in the United States of America,” Jain said.

Troops are deployed under Title 32 status, meaning they are funded by the federal government while remaining under the technical command of their respective state governors. The U.S. Marshals Service has deputized all deployed service members as special police, authorizing them to carry firearms and detain individuals until arresting officers arrive. Guard troops are not authorized to make arrests, according to the Joint Task Force.

Activists have posted signs on lampposts and walls in well-trafficked corridors calling for troops to go home. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hosted a ceremony on July 2 at Meridian Hill Park, surrounded by hundreds of troops, thanking them for their service. “It’s a righteous and beautiful mission,” Hegseth said.