Overview
- USA Today pegs the D.C. mission at a little more than $200 million for the local Guard, excluding eight contributing states, with all costs charged to the Defense Department.
- The California National Guard reports Los Angeles has cost $118 million as of early September, with about 100 troops still in the city and expenses continuing to accrue.
- Based on reported totals so far, combined spending on existing and planned deployments could approach roughly two-thirds of a billion dollars.
- The White House presents the missions as crime-fighting; in D.C.’s first month, homicides fell 53% and carjackings 75% year over year, though experts say causation and placement remain uncertain.
- Critics contrast the troop costs with alternative investments, citing a proposed $73 million cut to COPS and more than $800 million in OJP grants already reduced this spring.