Revealed: Trump planning new military unit to rapidly crush civil unrest
Internal Pentagon documents reportedly outline a proposal for 600 troops stationed across military bases in Alabama and Arizona, ready to go at a moment's notice.
The plan, seen by The Washington Post, suggests a rotation model using troops from units in multiple states, with personnel equipped with weapons and riot gear, and deployments lasting 90 days to 'limit burnout'.
The first 100 servicemen would be ready to be deployed within one hour, according to the plans, with the second and third waves mobilised within two and 12 hours.
If military aircraft and aircrews were needed on standby, the plans could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, according to documents seen by the Post.
The proposal suggests Donald Trump plans to continue using US forces domestically.
It comes after the US president made the extraordinary move to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington DC to tackle crime in the capital.
National Guard soldiers were seen arriving in the city on Tuesday morning. Pictures showed troops, dressed in camouflage, reporting for duty in the capital.
As well as deploying 800 National Guard troops to Washington, Mr Trump said he would bring the city's police department under federal control, becoming the first president in history to do so.
Critics questioned Mr Trump's true intentions with the move, pointing to police data showing violent crimes in Washington had been in decline since 2023.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Kamala Harris's former running mate, said of the move: 'The road to authoritarianism is littered with people telling you you're overreacting.'
Meanwhile, rumoured Democrat 2028 hopeful, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker warned Mr Trump that he has 'absolutely no right and no legal ability' to send troops to Chicago, adding: 'I have talked about the fact that the Nazis in Germany in the '30s tore down a constitutional republic in just 53 days.
'It does not take much, frankly, and we have a president who seems hell-bent on doing just that.'
Muriel Bowser, the city's mayor, called the move 'unsettling and unprecedented,' although she conceded that more policing in high-crime neighbourhoods could be a good thing.
Hours after Mr Trump made the announcement, a man was shot dead close to the scene of two attacks raised by the US president during his announcement on Monday.
The suspected homicide happened within half a mile of where a congressional intern was killed by a stray bullet last month and where a former government official was killed in his car last year during a failed carjacking attempt.
The numbers floated in the Pentagon proposal amount to a fraction of the 5,000 National Guard troops and Marines Mr Trump deployed to Los Angeles after anti-ICE protests erupted across the city earlier this year.
A similar idea to the proposed 'domestic civil disturbance quick reaction force' was floated following Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, with around 600 troops put on notice in Arizona and Alabama.
It is not clear whether the Pentagon proposal has been reviewed by Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary.
The documents were compiled by National Guard officials, with at least one action memo prepared by Elbridge Colby, a national security policy chief, which recommends the forces should receive extra training for this mission.
Mr Colby is said to have frustrated Mr Trump earlier this year when he reportedly froze military aid to Ukraine because US stockpiles were low. The move was rapidly reversed by Mr Trump amid criticism of government incohesion.
The proposal suggests the earliest the rapid response taskforce could be funded through the Pentagon is 2027.
Concerns highlighted in the proposal include the depleted availability of troops for local emergencies, such as wildfires and hurricanes, as well as questions over the appropriate use of the force.
The Telegraph has contacted the DoD for comment.
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