Tag Archives: National Guard

The Wall Street Journal reports: The National Guard will increase the number of troops in Washington, D.C., to at least 10,000 by Saturday to bolster security in advance of next week’s presidential inauguration, the Guard’s top officer said. Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson, who is in charge of the National Guard Bureau, said in a press briefing Monday that the troop …

The Military Times reports: Troops from Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York and Virginia joined those from D.C. Leaving their homes and jobs, the Guard troops are here, three days after two Air Force veterans were killed and three others died in an attempted insurrection. They are here to help ensure it does not happen again. “I never thought I would see …

The Washington Post reports: In memos issued Monday and Tuesday in response to a request from the D.C. mayor, the Pentagon prohibited the District’s guardsmen from receiving ammunition or riot gear, interacting with protesters unless necessary for self-defense, sharing equipment with local law enforcement, or using Guard surveillance and air assets without the defense secretary’s explicit sign-off, according to officials …

The New York Daily News reports: National Guard troops will be deployed to New York airports to make sure arriving travelers have proof of recently testing negative for COVID-19, Gov. Cuomo said Friday. The deployment follows a sweeping new entry test policy announced a week ago after the Empire State abandoned its travel advisory that mandated travelers from coronavirus hotspots …

Minneapolis’s ABC News affiliate reports: Gov. Walz has called for the full mobilization of the Minnesota National Guard. Minneapolis Mayor Frey in a media briefing said that many protesters are from out of state. St. Paul Mayor Carter in the same media briefing said that all protesters arrested Friday night in to Saturday morning are from out of state. Gov. …

Politico reports: The Trump administration is extending the federal deployment of over 40,000 National Guard troops aiding coronavirus relief efforts, reversing plans for an earlier cutoff following bipartisan backlash and pressure from top defense officials. The federal government will now keep funding National Guard troops in nearly the entire country through mid-August, President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday. The administration was …

Politico reports: More than 40,000 National Guard members currently helping states test residents for the coronavirus and trace the spread of infections will face a “hard stop” on their deployments on June 24 — just one day shy of many members becoming eligible for key federal benefits, according to a senior FEMA official. The official outlined the Trump administration’s plans …

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports: Gov. Tony Evers has agreed to use members of the Wisconsin Army National Guard to work at the polls during the April 7 election amid a massive shortage of poll workers that is leaving some communities without anyone to give voters ballots on Election Day. More than 100 communities in Wisconsin don’t have any poll workers …

NBC New York reports: Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a slate of sweeping new directives Tuesday for Westchester County’s New Rochelle, which he described as the “most significant cluster in the country” and accounts for the lion’s share of the tri-state’s surging caseload. Those measures include deploying National Guard troops to a Health Department command post and setting up a satellite …

CBS News reports: Tulsi Gabbard, Democrat from Hawaii and presidential candidate, will be taking a two-week absence from her campaign Monday to report for active duty with the Hawaiian Army National Guard in Indonesia, she said in an interview with CBSN’s Caitlin Huey-Burns. “I’m stepping off of the campaign trail for a couple of weeks and putting on my army …

Politico reports: Rep. Adam Kinzinger was deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border earlier this week with his Air National Guard unit, his office announced on Wednesday evening. “The Congressman is humbled to serve his IL-16 community here in the People’s House and equally proud to serve as a reconnaissance pilot in the Air National Guard,” Kinzinger’s communications director, Maura Gillespie, said …

NBC News reports: A military C-130 aircraft crashed near the Savannah, Georgia, airport on Wednesday, officials with the Air Force and Georgia National Guard told NBC News. The plane, part of the Air National Guard, had five people on board, the officials said. There was no immediate word on survivors. A spokesperson for the Georgia National Guard said it was …

Politico reports: Trump today doubled down on his plan to send National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to help with border security. On Friday, the first wave of troops left Arizona and Texas en route to their deployment. As he has in the past, Trump slammed Democrats for not being tougher on immigration, but his plan to send troops …

The Washington Post reports: Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said President Trump will sign a proclamation Wednesday that will direct her department and the Pentagon to work with states to deploy the National Guard. The National Guard will assist Border Patrol agents by acting in support roles such as with road development and intelligence gathering, according to a person familiar …

Reuters reports: U.S. President Donald Trump said his administration would “be taking strong action” on immigration later on Wednesday but gave no other details about any planned steps. Trump’s statement, made in an early morning post on Twitter, comes one day after the president said he would utilize the U.S. military to protect the nation’s southern border with Mexico. The …

Nixon did not notify the White House of this action. “Folks didn’t know,” an administration official told BuzzFeed Monday. “The White House did not know they were sending it in.” Nixon gave “no heads up,” the official said. President Obama is back at the White House today on a pre-scheduled break from his August vacation in Martha’s Vineyard. He’s scheduled …

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel today declared that National Guard units in all states are now in compliance with his directive that same-sex spouses be allowed to register for military benefits. Here is his full statement. On October 31, I called on the Chief of the National Guard Bureau to work with several states to fully implement DoD policy by …

Via Chris Johnson at the Washington Blade: Maj. Jon Craig, a National Guard Bureau spokesperson, said Georgia had agreed to process applications to grant same-sex spouses military IDs last week in a decision along the lines of Texas and Louisiana. “With Georgia, what it came down to was the authorization to put some state employees on temporary federal status,” Craig …

Via the Associated Press: National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Mike Kazmierzak said Thursday that federal employees will handle benefit enrollment requests for same-sex couples at Guard sites around Louisiana, so service members don’t have to travel to federal military installations for processing. Kazmierzak said the U.S. Property and Fiscal Officer in Louisiana, who handles federal property and federal financing for …

UPDATE: Garden State Equality is furious. “As a native Oklahoman, I find Governor Fallin’s anti-LGBT stand reprehensible. Ending service to all rather than offering service to a minority is not equality, it is discrimination of the highest order,” said Troy Stevenson, executive director of Garden State Equality. “While Governor Christie has never been a proponent of the freedom to marry, …