Pentagon drafts plan to deploy 1,000 Louisiana National Guard troops: Report
Pentagon planning documents obtained by The Washington Post show that the Trump administration drafted a proposal to activate 1,000 Louisiana National Guard troops for a law enforcement mission targeting the state’s “urban centers.” The Post writes that one of the documents is an unsigned, undated memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to United States Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
The draft memo said the Pentagon’s plan would be to allow the military to “supplement law enforcement” in cities like New Orleans and Baton Rouge if Republican Gov. Jeff Landry asks the federal government for help.
The Post noted that the documents do not say if Landry officially made a request for federal assistance. But Trump did say earlier this month that he was making a determination on which cities to send the National Guard to next, after deploying them to Washington, D.C. in August.
“We’re making a determination now — do we go to Chicago or do we go to a place like New Orleans, where we have a great, Gov. Jeff Landry, who wants us to come in and straighten out a very nice section of this country that’s become quite tough, quite bad?” Trump said, addressing reporters at a meeting with Polish president Karol Nawrocki. In response, Landry said on X that “We will take President @realDonaldTrump’s help from New Orleans to Shreveport!”
In August, Landry approved the deployment of around 135 Louisiana National Guard soldiers to Washington D.C. to assist with the operation in that city.
In addition, Trump implied a looming deployment in an appearance on “Fox and Friends,” Friday, during which he said he is sending National Guard troops to Memphis, Tennessee.
“New Orleans is in really bad shape, and the governor wants us to go in,” Trump said on “Fox and Friends.”
The president previously suggested he would send the National Guard to Chicago, Illinois, but ultimately decided not to after facing pushback from local officials including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. Trump called Chicago a “hostile” place with “professional agitators.”
Straight Arrow News reached out to Landry’s office for comment.
The Pentagon’s Louisiana plan
The Washington Post wrote that the mobilization of the National Guard in Louisiana would be until Sept. 30, 2026, though a start date was not mentioned in materials seen by the newspaper. National Guard personnel would supplement the law enforcement already in “high-crime neighborhoods” and provide them with “logistical and communications support,” according to the Post.
Under the Pentagon’s plan, there would be “clear rules of engagement and community outreach protocols to ensure transparency and public trust,” the documents said.
To put this into place, the Department of Defense will use Title 32 of the U.S. Code. This code lets National Guard troops stay under the governor’s control and still have the operation funded by federal daughters. In Hegseth’s draft memo, he wrote that “Title 32 status permits Guard personnel to support law enforcement missions without violating the Posse Comitatus Act.” The Posse Comitatus Act restricts using federal troops for domestic law enforcement.
In a statement to Straight Arrow News, the Pentagon said the department “is a planning organization and routinely reviews how the department would respond to a variety of contingencies across the globe.”
“Leaked documents should not be interpreted as policy,” the statement said. “We will not discuss these plans through leaked documents, pre-decisional or otherwise.”
U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, Sr., D-LA., decried the reported potential plan in a statement, though he emphasized that it is a draft and not an official order.
“The facts matter: New Orleans is experiencing the lowest crime rates in decades, with homicides and overall crime trending downward,” Carter said. “There is no ’emergency’ that justifies militarizing our city streets.If the President truly wants to help Louisiana and New Orleans, he should focus on real solutions.”
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
