Pentagon takes greater authority over deployment of National Guard in Washington D.C.

The Pentagon announced Thursday that the defense secretary would be solely responsible for approving the deployment of the National Guard in the District of Columbia (D.C.).

This decision is a result of months of reviewing how the military handles requests for the National Guard within the DC area.

Questions arose regarding the timeliness of National Guard deployment in response to the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol (Reuters).

The Pentagon said in a statement, “the Secretary of Defense is now the single approval authority for all requests that would involve District of Colombia National Guard personnel participating directly in civilian law enforcement activities or that require the deployment of DCNG (D.C. National Guard) personnel within 48 hours after receipt of the request.”

According to William Walker, former D.C. National Guard commander, Pentagon officials took over three hours to approve the request for the National Guard troops by the U.S. Capitol Police during the attack on the Capitol. It is not entirely clear how these new procedures would have affected the response time on January 6th (Market Watch).

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said, “by clarifying and refining the request process, including outlining the required information needed to assess requests from federal and local partners, the department will be able to respond to requests efficiently, quickly, and effectively.”