Give D.C. local control
Eleven months ago, the Capitol was physically assaulted for the first time since 1814 when a mob of Trump supporters overwhelmed Washington, D.C., and Capitol police. As the Trump administration dithered over sending in the D.C. National Guard, Mayor Muriel Bowser could not do it herself. Unlike the governors of states and territories, the chief executive officer of D.C. doesn’t control the Guard. The arrangement is a relic from the country’s founding that no longer makes any kind of sense for a city with 700,000 federal tax-paying residents and capable local governance.
A measure to transfer control of the D.C. National Guard to the mayor was included in the House-passed version of the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act. It was the first time in a decades-long fight by D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton that the measure had advanced so far, and there were hopes that with Democrats in control of the House, Senate and White House—and with memories of Jan. 6 still vivid—that the D.C. National Guard would finally be placed under local control. But the final version of the NDAA released this week after House and Senate negotiations stripped out the provision. It became a victim—once again—of Republican opposition to giving D.C. residents the same rights enjoyed by every other American citizen.
There are 54 national guard organizations in the United States—one for each state, plus D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands—and D.C. is the only unit that is never under the control of local authorities.
President Donald Trump did enlist the aid of the D.C. National Guard— to forcefully clear peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square in June 2020 so that he could stage a photo op. Since then, D.C. officials have found that their lack of authority inhibits their ability to respond in a timely way to emergencies. D.C. shouldn’t have to navigate the rigmarole of layers of federal approval to get the resources needed to respond to an emergency, be it preparing for inclement weather, dealing with a pandemic or putting down an insurrection.