District of Columbia Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) has introduced legislation that would require members of the armed forces, including the National Guard, deployed in the District of Columbia at the president’s direction to wear body cameras similar to those used by the city’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
Under the bill, all active-duty forces sent to the nation’s capital in response to crime or civil disturbances would be subject to a body-worn camera program modeled after MPD’s system, which stores video for defined periods based on the type of incident and provides public access.
“The Trump administration has deployed more than 2,000 troops to D.C. who are wholly unaccountable to D.C. residents. Even the D.C. National Guard troops are under the president’s control and do not report to the D.C. government,” Norton said. “This unwarranted deployment politicizes the military and does a disservice to members of the National Guard, who are being taken from their own families and jobs, and to D.C. residents, who neither requested nor consented to it. Body cameras would promote transparency and protect both the National Guard troops and D.C. residents from allegations of inappropriate or unlawful behavior.”
Norton argued that the use of body cameras would help safeguard both the public and the service members themselves, ensuring transparency during troop interactions.
Her announcement came as concerns continue to flare over President Trump’s expanded use of National Guard forces. On Monday, Trump signed an executive order directing that each state’s Guard units be “resourced, trained, organized and available to assist federal, state and local law enforcement in quelling civil disturbances.” The order also called for the creation of a standing National Guard “quick reaction force” prepared for rapid deployment across the country.
Retired Army Major General Randy Manner, former acting vice chief of the National Guard Bureau, told PBS NewsHour that Trump’s directive was “unneeded and also very dangerous” and warned that it represented a troubling new precedent.
“This is something where, when I was the acting vice chief of the National Guard Bureau, we absolutely already put into place the ability of having quick reaction forces in every state, depending on the size,” Manner said. “They were targeting the ability to respond to emergencies in the state such as floods, hurricanes, forest fires, earthquakes, and so on to be able to save lives. The difference here is that it’s focused on ‘public order.’ That’s very disturbing.”
Manner added that the Guard’s principal role has been to serve in overseas operations and respond to domestic disasters, not to police American citizens.
“We should not be using the military against our own people in any capacity,” he said.
Norton, who has consistently pressed for full voting rights and statehood for the District’s more than 700,000 residents, emphasized that the president’s ability to control the D.C. National Guard without local oversight further illustrates the city’s lack of self-determination.
“I urge my colleagues to support this bill,” Norton said.