The Trump administration plans to deploy another 500 members of the National Guard to the streets of Washington, D.C., Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday, hours after two service members were shot a few blocks away from the White House.
President Trump ordered the additional deployment, Hegseth told reporters in the Dominican Republic, where he was traveling Wednesday. A U.S. official confirmed to CBS News that the Army has received the request and will work to fulfill it quickly.
The 500 additional service members will join roughly 2,200 troops who were deployed in D.C. as of Sunday morning. That includes around 900 members of the D.C. National Guard and more than 1,200 members of several states’ Guard forces, according to a press release from the military’s Joint Task Force – District of Columbia.
It’s not clear when the 500 additional troops will arrive in the nation’s capital, or whether they will come from the D.C. National Guard or from a state’s National Guard force.
Hegseth made the announcement after two members of the West Virginia National Guard were shot in an attack in the capital. At a briefing, FBI Director Kash Patel said the two Guard members are in critical condition. Local police say a suspect is in custody and is being treated at a hospital.
“This will only stiffen our resolve to ensure that we make Washington, D.C., safe and beautiful,” Hegseth told reporters on Wednesday.
National Guard forces were initially deployed to the streets of D.C. in August, part of an anti-crime mission by the Trump administration that has also included federal law enforcement officers and local police.
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb has sued over the deployment, calling it illegal. A federal judge ruled last week that the deployment likely violates federal law, but delayed the ruling for 21 days as the Trump administration appeals.