(Zero Hedge)—A new extension of the National Guard’s deployment to Washington will keep guardsmen in the nation’s capital until President Donald Trump’s term ends in more than two years.
The Pentagon confirmed on Thursday that the mission for which National Guard troops were deployed will continue until Jan. 20, 2029, or until the president terminates it.
The extension would allow National Guard members to remain in Washington until the next president is inaugurated, unless Trump ends the deployment early.
The deployment was previously scheduled to expire at the end of 2026.
As Timothy Fudd details below for The Epoch Times, Trump first deployed the National Guard to Washington in August 2025. He said the capital was “under siege from violent crime” and suggested that Washington’s local government had “lost control of public order and safety.”
“It is my duty to our citizens and Federal workers to secure the safety and the peaceful functioning of our Nation, the Federal Government, and our city,” Trump said in a presidential memorandum.
As of July 8, the task force said 5,148 guardsmen had been assigned to Washington. The War Department previously confirmed that about half of the National Guard members currently deployed in Washington had been sent to the capital to support operations during the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration.
Metropolitan Police Department crime statistics from Jan. 1 to July 17 showed that homicides have dropped by 38 percent compared with the same period last year. Additionally, robberies have decreased by 18 percent, motor vehicle thefts by 53 percent, and property crimes by 23 percent.
While total crime is down 20 percent from last year, the number of assaults with a dangerous weapon has increased by 45 percent. Total violent crime has also increased by 1 percent from last year.
During an address at Washington’s Meridian Hill Park on July 2, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth credited National Guard members serving in support of the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force for what he described as a “staggering” crime drop in Washington.
Speaking to more than 500 National Guard members, Hegseth said, “You’re not from Washington, most of you, but this is your capital, and you believe in this 250th year that it should be safe and it should be secure for every single citizen that lives here and every single citizen that comes to visit.”
Air Force Gen. Steven Nordhaus, chief of the National Guard Bureau, also credited National Guard members for saving more than 235 lives, providing more than 530 medical assists, and restoring children to their families 27 times.
While Hegseth said crime has “dropped in staggering amounts” with the task force’s support, some local government officials have criticized the deployment of National Guard members to Washington.
“Taxpayers are paying more than a million dollars a day to have them walk around,” City Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said in April.
He added that “the presence of armed soldiers on American streets is not a good look.”
The Congressional Budget Office previously released a report suggesting that the continued deployment of National Guard members in Washington could cost $55 million a month, based on an estimate of 2,950 guardsmen.
Following Trump’s order for National Guard members to support law enforcement operations in Washington, two National Guard members were shot in the city last fall. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom died from her injuries, while Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe was badly injured.
The suspected shooter was later identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national. Lakanwal was charged with 17 counts, including first-degree murder, in a superseding indictment in June. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.
