{"id":79083,"date":"2025-08-22T17:03:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T17:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2025\/08\/22\/hegseth-signs-memo-authorizing-arming-of-guard-in-dc\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T16:11:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T16:11:06","slug":"hegseth-signs-memo-authorizing-arming-of-guard-in-dc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2025\/08\/22\/hegseth-signs-memo-authorizing-arming-of-guard-in-dc\/","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth signs memo authorizing arming of Guard in DC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has signed a memo authorizing National Guard troops deployed in Washington, D.C., to carry weapons if their mission requires it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two U.S. defense officials stressed to Military Times that Guard leadership in the nation\u2019s capital has not issued an order to arm Guard members, who currently remain unarmed, but that status could change in the coming days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The memo, according to one official, was addressed to the chief of the National Guard Bureau and the Secretary of the Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hegseth\u2019s decision would allow the roughly 2,000 troops now mobilized<\/a> in Washington to expand their operations, which are currently in low-crime tourist areas, to possible security patrols in neighborhoods that struggle with crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\t