Army Spc. Kyle Moore of the Michigan National Guard provides perimeter security near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 12, 2021. (Capt. Joe Legros/U.S. Army National Guard)
National Guard troops in 18 states and Washington, D.C., had been activated or placed on standby orders by their governors for duty amid fears of a tense Election Day on Tuesday, defense officials said.
More than 250 Guard troops had been called by Tuesday to active duty, according to the National Guard Bureau. Another 600 troops were on standby orders to be activated quickly if governors deemed them necessary, Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s top spokesman, told reporters on Monday.
Guard officials said almost half of the troops activated were cyber specialists who would be embedded to advise and aid election workers on cyber issues, which the National Guard has done in past elections. The other forces were mainly “general support” troops, according to a defense official.
The Guard troops activated were from Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin and West Virginia, according to the Guard. Ryder said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had approved a request to allow Washington, D.C., troops to be activated between Tuesday and Nov. 13, if needed.
“It is routine practice for the [Defense Department] to authorize the D.C. National Guard to support or augment security for large scale events in the district and activated Guardsmen will remain under the command and control of the D.C. National Guard,” Ryder said.
Troops were also on standby in Colorado, Florida and Nevada, a National Guard spokesperson said.
National Guard officials said some of its troops could be activated for security purposes, if needed. Guard troops spent more than four months ensuring security in Washington in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by supporters of former President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol.
Already more than two dozen states have committed to send National Guard forces to Washington, if officially requested, ahead of the next presidential inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, Guard leaders announced Monday.
Some fear the potential for violence amid a contentious presidential election between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump, whose supporters ransacked the Capitol in 2021 in an unsuccessful effort to halt the formalization of President Joe Biden’s election victory, has used violent rhetoric in the leadup to the 2024 election and has refused to pledge to accept the results of the vote if he loses. Trump also has been targeted twice by would-be assassins during the 2024 campaign.
The FBI warned last month that domestic terrorists could be plotting violence around the election and might target political candidates, elected officials, election workers and journalists, according to an Oct. 3 memorandum. It warned violent extremists might be motivated by beliefs of election fraud, which federal and state officials, including judges, have repeatedly said are unfounded.
“[Domestic violent extremists] continue to create, exploit, and promote narratives about the election process or legal decisions involving political figures, and we are concerned that these grievances could motivate some [domestic violent extremists] to engage in violence, as we saw during the 2020 election cycle,” the FBI memo reads.
In Oregon, Gov. Jay Inslee activated troops this week in response to an Oct. 28 incident that saw a makeshift bomb explode in a ballot drop box in Vancouver, Wash., destroying “hundreds of ballots,” according to his office. Another such bomb was set off at a ballot box in Portland, Ore., which law enforcement officials have said was a related incident.
