The final number of guard forces to be approved is expected to be resolved Monday when Whitley meets with Bowser. If an agreement is reached, the initial deployment can be a “couple of hundred” forces. The officer highlighted the final details of a deployment that are still being discussed.
“The military is reviewing a request from the Washington, DC city government for the District of Columbia National Guard to support the Metropolitan Police Department during the upcoming First Amendment demonstrations planned,” an official said. of the Army on CNN. The official noted that the precise wording of the formally approved statement does not refer to the Chauvin trial, but said that is what the statement refers to.
The Pentagon later acknowledged the National Guard’s request for assistance Monday, and Pentagon chief spokesman John Kirby said “there is a request that the Army is looking at right now,” but it was refuse to provide additional details.
Under the laws governing the DC National Guard, the president retains the authority to deploy the Guard. This authority is currently granted to the army.
The request was made in a letter on April 8 from DC’s director of Homeland Security, Dr. Christopher Rodriguez, to the commander of the DC National Guard, General William Walker. The total number of National Guards requested was not indicated, but he said most of them will be split into six “crowd management teams” at several subway stations and others “to help thirty places. designated traffic officers “.
“The DCNG’s mission during this activation will be primarily crowd management, the“ Quick Response Force ”(QRF) and helping to block vehicles at transit sites,” Rodriguez writes. The QRF would be conducted at the DC Armory “with the ability to respond within thirty minutes to a request for assistance.”
Rodriguez on Monday called the request a “precaution” and said they had asked the National Guard to support the DC Metropolitan Police Department with traffic management and security at the center’s public transportation stations, as well as a rapid reaction force of guards to be deployed in the case of “large-scale protests.” He said that if the request is approved, the attending guards will not be armed, noting that only the president can sign the arming of the DC National Guard.
This story was updated with additional details on Monday.
CNN’s Chandelis Duster, Michael Conte and Alex Marquardt contributed to this report.