In the face of severe criticism for its response to the George Floyd protests in June, the District of Columbia National Guard will be unarmed in the nation’s capital to support local law enforcement during protests surrounding Congress’s counting of electoral votes that is set for Wednesday.
“We saw numerous challenges, but we continue to support our fellow citizens and visitors to the district,” spokesman Senior Master Sgt. Craig Clapper told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday. The Guard will be activated through Thursday.
Clapper said Mayor Muriel Bowser insisted that the 340 local Guard members who will help local law enforcement with traffic, crowd, and access control be unarmed.
Only Quick Response Force members, if specifically requested, would carry a baton and shield for personal protection.
“We’ve explicitly been told there is no weaponry of any kind for this mission,” Clapper said. “If anything came to that, yes, they would have to facilitate transportation back to the armory.”
Of the 340 activated Guard members, 115 would be on the street with traffic and crowd control at any one time, Clapper said. That leaves more than 200 that could potentially respond in a QRF capacity.
The District of Columbia National Guard was criticized this summer after it was called to assist law enforcement with clearing Lafayette Square of protesters near the White House prior to a curfew on June 1 so that President Trump could walk through the park for a photo opportunity.
Two National Guard helicopters flew low over protesters in an effort to disperse them, causing an incident that is still under Army investigation. The incident has been turned over to the Pentagon’s inspector general, but the findings have not been made public.
The Guard also wore inadequate identification and borrowed gear with the city’s police markings, all issues Clapper said have been resolved ahead of the current mission.
‘Not a civil disturbance mission’
Should civil disturbance occur surrounding the electoral ballot count, authorities in the city would have to request authorization from Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy for a change in the National Guard mission.
“This is not a civil disturbance mission for us,” Clapper said, drawing a distinction between the Guard response in June that encamped the entire 2,600-member force and summoned out-of-state Guard units, who remained nearby on the ready.
Following the June incident, then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper told the House Armed Services Committee that the 1,700 active-duty military members on standby in Virginia were not used and that 5,000 Guard members on duty did not engage protesters.
This activation may be different, with district businesses already boarding up and calling on employees to work remotely in what may be a final salvo for election protesters.
In October, McCarthy defended the use of the Guard during violent protests in which some Guard members were injured.
“The protests became very violent,” McCarthy told Pentagon journalists at the time. “It was necessary to bring in the support to help local law enforcement and federal law enforcement officials due to the tremendous damage [and] police officers and Guardsmen being injured.”
National Guard Association spokesman John Goheen sees few parallels between the June events and the current activation. He pointed out that previous protesters were locals, while tens of thousands of expected protesters this week are expected to be out-of-town Trump supporters who are angry at the election results.
“There certainly is some anger,” he said. “Anger on the streets is not a good thing.”
He added: “What you can’t allow is for those expressions of anger to turn violent, either to people or property. So those are your similarities, but you are talking about different groups here.”
Both officials assessed that the Metropolitan Police of the District of Columbia’s intelligence was guiding decision-making at this early stage, monitoring social media chatter and messaging.
Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was arrested on Monday after he entered the district in connection with setting fire to a Black Lives Matter banner taken from a historic black church. He was also charged with two felony counts of possessing high-capacity magazines found when he was taken into custody.
Still, Clapper said, Washington’s Guard members, who are among the most diverse units in the country with an estimated 50% minorities, will not wear helmets or security vests.
“They literally have a vest, and it’s like a vest that somebody at Walmart would wear,” Clapper said. “Fingers crossed that nothing goes too crazy.”
