An internal Pentagon directive has ordered the national guards of all 50 US states, the District of Columbia and US territories to form “quick reaction forces” trained in riot control, according to a memo reviewed by the Guardian. The document, signed on 8 October by Major General Ronald Burkett, the director of operations for the Pentagon’s national guard bureau, sets requirements for each state to train 500 guard members, totalling 23,500 troops nationwide.
The troops are to be trained in the use of batons, body shields, Tasers and pepper spray, as well as in forming riot control formations and supervising crowd control operations. The memo cites President Donald Trump’s August executive order that deployed the guard to Washington DC and required the creation of a standing national guard quick reaction force for rapid nationwide deployment in quelling civil disturbances. The goal is to make the forces operational by 1 January 2026, with each state provided 100 sets of crowd control equipment.
Janessa Goldbeck, a former US Marine Corps captain and chief executive of the Vet Voice Foundation, said the order represented “an attempt by the president to normalise a national, militarised police force”. She predicted it could be used to send troops to states led by Democratic governors without their permission, and potentially to suppress voter turnout or disrupt elections. In a worst-case scenario, she said, the president could declare a state of emergency, claim elections are rigged and use allegations of voter fraud to seize ballots.
The Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment, while a spokesperson for the national guard bureau declined to address concerns about normalising a militarised police force. Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, said the president had lawfully deployed the guard to several cities either in response to violent riots or by invitation, and cited “tremendous results” in Memphis and DC where crime had significantly dropped. She described the Guardian’s report as “fearmongering and lies”.
A separate Pentagon document dated 24 September mandates the creation of a specialised military police battalion within the DC National Guard, with a 50-person full-time element ready within 90 days and full strength by 2027. Christopher Purdy, a national guard veteran and chief executive of the Chamberlain Network, noted that such forces were not unprecedented but typically followed a serious emergency, citing the 50,000 troops deployed after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Kent State shooting in 1970, when four unarmed students were killed by the Ohio national guard.
