Overview
- Nearly 2,400 Guard members remain on Title 32 orders in the capital, largely assigned to park cleanups and other beautification work, with troops drawn from DC, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia and Alabama.
- The orders were set to expire at the end of November before the defense secretary extended them, according to reporting on the Guard’s instructions.
- District officials have sued to force removal of the troops, and Attorney General Brian Schwalb has labeled the deployment an involuntary military occupation.
- The operation costs about $1 million per day, and service members’ pay has been at risk during the government shutdown.
- A separate Pentagon memo directed all states, DC and US territories to train quick reaction forces for riot control, in an order signed on 8 October by Maj Gen Ronald Burkett.