The order went out, and the message is blunt: National Guard troops are heading to Washington, D.C . The nation’s capital is bracing for a security surge, and the legal machinery behind it is faster and sharper than most realize. Here’s what the authority looks like, what the troops will actually do on the ground, and where the political fight is already brewing.

Can the President Do This?

Short answer: yes—more easily in Washington than anywhere else in the country.

Unlike state National Guards, which answer to governors unless they’re “federalized,” the District of Columbia National Guard (DCNG) reports to the President through the Secretary of Defense (typically delegated to the Secretary of the Army). That’s baked into D.C. law and the federal framework that treats t

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