President Donald Trump has repeatedly described major U.S. cities as dangerously crime-ridden, deploying National Guard troops to several and warning that additional forces may follow. Patrick Eddington, a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, argues that such deployments compromise military readiness by diverting troops from their wartime support role and are unlikely to reduce crime.
In his new piece, Eddington points out that none of the National Guard deployments in D.C. actually targeted the hot spot crime areas. Most of the troops are not from military police units, but line infantry units, without any law enforcement training. These troops were called up to do a job they were never equipped for and sent almost exclusively to areas of D.C. that were not crime hubs.
You can read the full piece here. If you would like to speak with Eddington, please reach out to PR at pr@cato.org.