According to a Defense Department projection provided to Congress, more National Guard members will be sent to Washington in the next two years and that will significantly raise the cost of the operation.
All this mobilization of personnel began in August 2025, when Trump considered that insecurity had exceeded the capacity of the local police and in response launched the strategy called “Make Washington D.C. a safe and beautiful city.”
Currently, there are 4,600 members of the National Guard temporarily deployed in the country's capital, as their base is in states governed by members of the Republican Party.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, relocating so many people and providing them with shelter and food represented a monthly cost of nearly $55 million.
So, to reduce this expense, since not only will the stay of the National Guard be prolonged, but the arrival of more elements is projected, it was decided to close an agreement to build nearly 2,000 homes for these people, this in exchange for an investment of $292 million dollars.
During an approach with representatives of the news media, Leland Blanchard, general in command of the National Guard of the District of Columbia, Washington, D.C., pointed out that, from this operation, savings of $90,000,000 million will be achieved for lodging troops in hotels.
One of the points of greatest controversy linked to the military presence on the streets of the capital arises from an analysis carried out by the Niskanen Center, a group of public policy experts, which emphasizes that using a member of the National Guard implies a daily expense of $607 dollars, an amount higher than the $384 dollars allocated to a local police officer.
Without offering precise details, the report also dismisses the decline in violent crime in Washington.
