Overview
- An Oct. 8 memo signed by National Guard operations chief Ronald Burkett instructs every state, plus Washington, D.C., and U.S. territories, to field rapid-reaction units of about 500 soldiers each, totaling roughly 23,500 personnel.
- The units are to be trained and equipped for riot control, including crowd-control formations, batons, shields, tasers and pepper spray, with the Pentagon providing sets of crowd-control gear.
- Readiness is targeted for January 1, 2026, with full buildout reported by 2027 under a plan rooted in President Trump’s August executive order to make Guard troops available to suppress unrest.
- A U.S. appeals court suspended authorization to send about 200 Guard members to Portland, reinstating District Judge Karin J. Immergut’s finding that the deployment was unlawful pending further review by an 11-judge panel.
- Separate cases have blocked deployments to Chicago as the Supreme Court seeks additional briefing on statutory questions, while critics warn the program expands a militarized role for domestic policing.