Pentagon Evaluating 'Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force' to Respond to Unrest in US Cities

RedState 

A Tuesday report revealed that per Pentagon documents, the Trump Administration is now considering plans to create a “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force” or “QRF” comprised of elements from the National Guard that would be equipped and staged to rapidly mobilize to any American city that is facing imminent or emergent rioting or unrest. The QRF could be realized as soon as fiscal 2027 under the current Pentagon budgeting.

Left-leaning commentators have been quick to heap scorn on the concept, after already characterizing President Trump’s deployment of National Guard Troops and invocation of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to federalize the D.C. Metro Police as a “dangerous D.C. power grab,” from the “dictator playbook,” per MSNBC. Host Rachel Maddow described the move, claiming that Trump “…really enjoys using us military force against American civilians on American soil, and wants any excuse to do it anywhere he can.”

However, the plan documents, which are identified as “predecisional” according to The Washington Post, paint a far different picture. They detail the creation of a force of just 600 personnel on permanent standby, capable of deploying within an hour, split into two elements of 300 troops each, stationed in Alabama and Arizona, respectively, and responsible for the eastern and western continental United States (CONUS).

The outlet reported that the proposal calls for President Donald Trump to mobilize the National Guard under his authority, as granted by Title 32, typically used when the National Guard operates under State command on domestic missions, such as natural disaster deployments, with “more latitude to participate in law enforcement missions,” as well as Title 10 which allows military personnel to “support law enforcement activity but not perform arrests or investigations.” 

The Insurrection Act of 1807, cited more than once by President Trump before he deployed U.S Marines to Los Angeles in June, also permits the president to utilize active-duty military personnel to “as he considers necessary to enforce those laws or to suppress the rebellion” within the United States, “Whenever the President considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States, make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any State by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings.”

The documents explain that deployments would be staggered, with the first 100 troops ready to deploy within an hour, with subsequent waves prepared within two to twelve hours. Of course, all could be deployed at once in an emergency. This geographic placement would put troops on the ground in any city in the continental U.S. within two to six hours. The quick reaction teams would also be limited to 90 days on station “to limit burnout.”

The plan reportedly calls for the Force to be manned by a rotation of troops from the Army and Air Force National Guard from states including Alabama, Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

A DOD official told The Independent, “The Department of Defense is a planning organization and routinely reviews how the department would respond to a variety of contingencies across the globe.” The official added, “We will not discuss these plans through leaked documents, pre-decisional or otherwise.”

Per the WaPo, the plans describing the Quick Reaction Force were timestamped in July and early August. Addressing the potential fallout of the program, the documents stated, “National Guard support for [Department of Homeland Security] raises potential political sensitivities, questions regarding the appropriate civil-military balance and legal considerations related to their role as a nonpartisan force.”

The concept or the force was tested, the documents revealed, during the 2020 Presidential Election, with 60 troops staged in Alabama and Arizona poised to respond to unrest in the cities, as reported by Fox News.