Military

National Guard Was On Traffic Duty In D.C.

Once violence started, the Guard said they could not immediately move to assist law enforcement.

National Guard Was On Traffic Duty In D.C.
Jacquelyn Martin / AP
SMS

There have been questions about why the National Guard was not doing more to stop protesters. 

The National Guard's original mission was traffic control, and once violence started, the Guard said they could not immediately move to assist law enforcement. 

That has to go through bureaucratic channels, to the Department of Defense, which has to approve that request for them to step in and help, and then orders are issued to the Guard to do that. 

It sounds cumbersome. It is cumbersome. And it's designed to prevent the National Guard from overstepping.