Trump’s National Guard quick reaction force largely already exists, officials say
By Haley Britzky, CNN
(CNN) — The Pentagon is moving forward on orders from President Donald Trump to build a National Guard quick reaction force in each state for domestic use, though two US officials say the effort is largely making incremental changes to a mission the Guard already undertakes.
Trump ordered that the Pentagon “ensure the availability of a standing National Guard quick reaction force that shall be resourced, trained, and available for rapid nationwide deployment,” in an August executive order.
But the two officials said those reaction forces already exist.
“This whole thing – we’re already doing it,” one of the US officials said. “This is just updated guidance.”
The officials said that plans are being developed within the Defense Department and National Guard for possible additional training or increase to the number of personnel available for existing units to meet the new requirement.
Internal Pentagon guidance directs that most states have roughly 500 individuals dedicated to the reaction force, one of the officials said, though that number could vary depending on the size of the state.
Some states may have to increase the size of their Guard contingent dedicated to the mission to meet that guidance.
The Guardian was first to report on the guidance, which was issued earlier this month, with the director of operations for the Pentagon’s National Guard bureau outlining troop numbers for the quick reaction forces ordered by Trump including a total of roughly 23,500 troops nationally.
The Guard already has two types of forces that meet this mission – the National Guard Reaction Force and the Homeland Response Force.
The National Guard Reaction Force in each state provides “a rapid response capability focused on incidents requiring defense support of civilian authorities,” a publicly available fact sheet says.
When needed, that force is meant to be able to deploy 25% of its personnel within the first eight hours, 50% of its personnel within 12 hours, and the entire contingent within 24 hours. Their mission, according to the fact sheet, includes civil disturbance control and personnel and site security.
The Homeland Response Force, meanwhile, is meant to be able to assemble within six hours and support emergency response chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high-yield explosive disasters. Within that force, the US official said, is a group of roughly 200 US soldiers whose job is riot and crowd control.
Those forces are organized matching the 10 regions the Federal Emergency Management Agency uses to subdivide US land, the US official said, meaning they are responsible for responding first for a group of states and/or territories. Region 2, for example, includes New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
The Pentagon guidance comes as the Trump administration has repeatedly sought to use the Guard in various states as support to law enforcement and immigration officials. The administration has been caught up in legal disputes over its deployment of the Guard in Los Angeles, Portland, and Chicago, and CNN reported Wednesday that orders for the National Guard in Washington, DC, have been extended into 2026.
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