Guard Members Question $1.4 Billion D.C. Mission as Trump Extends Deployment Through 2029
Updated
Updated · The Daily Beast · Aug 24
Guard Members Question $1.4 Billion D.C. Mission as Trump Extends Deployment Through 2029
3 articles · Updated · The Daily Beast · Aug 24
Summary
Three current National Guard members told NPR they are embarrassed by the Washington deployment and increasingly doubt why they remain in the capital a year after Trump sent hundreds there.
About $3 million a day is being spent on the mission, and the Congressional Budget Office estimates extending it through 2029 would cost another $1.4 billion, even as some troops said their work included trash cleanup, leaf bagging and maintaining a visible presence.
November brought the mission's deadliest moment when a gunman shot two West Virginia Guard members near the White House, killing 20-year-old Spc. Sarah Beckstrom; one troop said her death made the deployment feel futile and emotionally untenable.
Washington residents have posted signs telling troops to go home, while Guard members warned the operation risks recasting the force from a disaster-response institution into a threatening "presence patrol."
Center for American Progress said this month the administration's broader Guard-based crime crackdown has cost taxpayers more than $1.7 billion with no measurable effect on violent crime, a finding Trump has publicly rejected.