Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memo late last week authorizing National Guard troops deployed in Washington, D.C., to carry weapons if their mission requires it. The memo, according to one official, was addressed to the chief of the National Guard Bureau and the Secretary of the Army.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has authorized members of the National Guard who are patrolling Washington, D.C., to begin carrying weapons on duty.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered National Guard members patrolling the streets of Washington, DC, to begin carrying their service weapons as they fulfill President Donald Trump’s crime crackdown in the nation’s capital,