President Donald Trump has ordered the creation of new federal and military “specialized units,” framed as a move to ensure public safety in Washington, D.C., and beyond. In the order signed on Monday, he directed federal agencies and the Pentagon to hire, train, and equip rapid-response forces for deployment in the capital, “other cities,” and, potentially, “nationwide.”
The order, titled “Additional Measures to Address the Crime Emergency in the District of Columbia,” builds on Executive Order 14333 of August 11, which first declared a “crime emergency.”
Trump justified the latest move by claiming that “rampant violence and disorder” threaten the federal government and the nation. He wrote:
Two weeks ago, I declared a crime emergency in the District of Columbia to address the rampant violence and disorder that have undermined the proper and safe functioning of the Federal Government, and therefore, the Nation, and that have led to disgraceful conditions in our Nation’s capital.
The order, while focused on Washington, D.C., lays out a sweeping plan that extends federal law-enforcement powers across the entire country.
Section 2 directs multiple agencies to expand their role. The United States Park Police must hire more officers. The U.S. Attorney’s office must add prosecutors focused on violent and property crimes.
The most far-reaching step is the creation of new paramilitary-style enforcement bodies. The order states:
Each law enforcement agency that is a member of the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, as well as other relevant components of the Department of Justice as the Attorney General determines, shall further … immediately create and begin training, manning, hiring, and equipping a specialized unit that is dedicated to ensuring public safety and order in the Nation’s capital that can be deployed whenever the circumstances necessitate, and that could be deployed, subject to applicable law, in other cities where public safety and order has been lost.
In plain terms, federal agencies are tasked with setting up law-enforcement units that can be moved into Washington, D.C., or other cities whenever the White House decides.
Trump created the “D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force” in March. It is led by the homeland security advisor and includes the Departments of Interior (DOI), Transportation (DOT), and Homeland Security (DHS), as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), U.S. Marshals, Park Police, and U.S. Attorneys for D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.
The Task Force also works with the Metropolitan Police, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), and Amtrak Police. Its mission is broad: pursue immigration enforcement, place more federal officers on D.C. streets, strengthen MPD, and enforce “quality of life” laws on the National Mall and other public areas.
Trump’s Monday order goes well beyond prosecutors and police. He directed the secretary of defense to create a new policing arm inside the D.C. National Guard:
The Secretary of Defense shall … immediately create and begin training, manning, hiring, and equipping a specialized unit within the District of Columbia National Guard, subject to activation under Title 32 of the United States Code, that is dedicated to ensuring public safety and order in the Nation’s capital.
This unit would not stand on its own. The order authorizes the attorney general, the secretary of the interior, and the secretary of homeland security, in coordination with Defense, to deputize Guard members to enforce federal law.
The directive then expands to every state:
The Secretary of Defense shall immediately begin ensuring that each State’s Army National Guard and Air National Guard are resourced, trained, organized, and available to assist Federal, State, and local law enforcement in quelling civil disturbances and ensuring the public safety and order whenever the circumstances necessitate.
Defense must coordinate with state adjutants general to set aside Guard members for rapid mobilization. It must also maintain a standing quick-reaction force, trained and equipped for “nationwide deployment.”
Taken together, the order directs the military to prepare in advance for law-enforcement roles well beyond Washington. Currently, Trump is weighing deployments in New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
The order empowers civilian agencies as well. HUD must investigate landlords and housing authorities for failing to meet “crime-prevention and safety requirements.” The Department of Transportation must inspect transit systems for conditions endangering workers. The attorney general may request changes to D.C. police orders.
Each measure broadens federal involvement in areas normally under local control.
This is not Trump’s first attempt to put soldiers in policing roles. In June, during the Los Angeles immigration protests, he authorized the deployment of 2,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines. The move sparked alarm over the use of federal forces on American streets without local approval.
In Washington, the official narrative seems to clash with reality. FBI data show no crime emergency. The 2024 Uniform Crime Report recorded ups and downs in violent crime, but no surge that would justify declaring the Capital a national crisis.
The gap between statistics and sweeping decrees raises a deeper question: What is the real purpose behind deploying troops and building “specialized units”?
The U.S. system has long drawn a sharp line between military and police powers. The Posse Comitatus Act enforces that boundary. It is just one sentence:
Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
In plain terms, the military may not be used for civilian law enforcement unless Congress or the Constitution explicitly authorizes it.
Presidents, however, can sidestep this limit by using the National Guard under Title 32. In this status, Guard members remain technically under state authority, but they can be funded, directed, and trained by the federal government. Critics warn this loophole erodes constitutional safeguards and blurs the line between civilian policing and military command.
The result is a dangerous shift: police power pulled into Washington, concentrated in the executive branch, and stripped from states and local communities.