US President Donald Trump’s administration is evaluating plans to create a “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force” composed of hundreds of US National Guard troops tasked with rapidly deploying into US cities facing protests or unrest, the Washington Post reported yesterday, citing internal Pentagon documents.
The report follows Trump’s announcement on Monday that he was deploying 800 National Guard troops to Washington and temporarily taking over the city’s police department, an extraordinary assertion of presidential power in the nation’s capital.
The president cast his actions as necessary to “rescue” Washington from a purported wave of lawlessness. Statistics show that violent crime shot up in 2023, but has been rapidly declining since.
Photo: AP
“Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals,” Trump told a news conference at the White House.
It is the second time this summer that the Republican president has deployed troops to a Democratically governed city. A federal trial began on Monday in San Francisco on whether Trump contravened US law by deploying National Guard troops to Los Angeles in June without the approval of California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Trump signaled that other major US cities with Democratic leadership could be next.
Photo: EPA
“If we need to, we’re going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster,” Trump said at the White House, adding: “Hopefully LA is watching.”
Hundreds of officers and agents from more than a dozen federal agencies have fanned out across Washington in the past few days.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi is to oversee the police force, Trump said.
The US Army said that National Guard troops would carry out a number of tasks, including “administrative, logistics and physical presence in support of law enforcement,” with 100 to 200 troops be supporting law enforcement at any given time.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, said she would follow the law regarding the “so-called emergency” even as she indicated that Trump’s actions were a reason why the District of Columbia should be a state with legal protections from such actions.
“While this action today is unsettling and unprecedented, I can’t say that given some of the rhetoric of the past, that we’re totally surprised,” Bowser said.
District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb called Trump’s actions “unprecedented, unnecessary and unlawful.”
“There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia,” he said.
Additional reporting by AP
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
Tropical Storm Podul strengthened into a typhoon at 8pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with a sea warning to be issued late last night or early this morning. As of 8pm, the typhoon was 1,020km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving west at 23kph. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA said. Based on the tropical storm’s trajectory, a land warning could be issued any time from midday today, it added. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said Podul is a fast-moving storm that is forecast to bring its heaviest rainfall and strongest
TRAJECTORY: The severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, and would influence the nation to varying degrees, a forecaster said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it would likely issue a sea warning for Tropical Storm Podul tomorrow morning and a land warning that evening at the earliest. CWA forecaster Lin Ting-yi (林定宜) said the severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving west at 21kph and packing sustained winds of 108kph and gusts of up to 136.8kph, the CWA said. Lin said that the tropical storm was about 1,710km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, with two possible trajectories over the next one
CRITICISM: It is deeply regrettable that China, which is pursuing nuclear weapons, has suppressed Taiwan, which is pursuing peace, a government official said Representative to Japan Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) yesterday accused Beijing of interference after Taiwan’s official delegation to the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony in Japan was assigned seating in the “international non-governmental organizations [NGO]” area. “Taiwan is by no means an international NGO, but a sovereign nation that is active on the international stage,” Lee said. Lee and Chen Ming-chun (陳銘俊), head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Fukuoka, attended the ceremony in Nagasaki yesterday, which marked the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city. That followed Lee’s attendance at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony on Wednesday
RSS