WASHINGTON — The number of National Guard soldiers on the streets of Washington has fallen to 2,921, according to a Pentagon task force in the city, down from a peak of 5,148 troops on July 10.

The soldiers were initially deployed Aug. 11, 2025, when President Donald Trump declared a “crime emergency” in the capital, even though crime in the city had been falling.

The number of troops increased drastically for Trump’s celebrations for the country’s 250th anniversary, which included fireworks, military flyovers, an Ultimate Fighting Championship match at the White House and an IndyCar race that closed many downtown streets.

But in recent weeks, the clusters of soldiers at subway stops and tourist destinations have become less visible.

The contingent of Guard soldiers and airmen in Washington had fluctuated between roughly 2,350 and 2,850 service members until June, when hundreds more began arriving every week.

In a statement, the Defense Department task force, known as the Joint Task Force District of Columbia, said the troops were doing “routine presence patrols” in the city and supporting federal, state and local government officials.

The deployment has drawn troops from 27 states and two territories over the past year, though 11 states, some led by Republicans and some by Democrats, have pulled their soldiers and airmen from the effort.

For months, South Carolina and Georgia each had more troops in Washington than the city’s own National Guard, whose hometown service members were the single biggest contingent at the end of August.

Local soldiers and airmen currently make up about 23% of those deployed on the city’s streets, with Florida, Georgia and Mississippi contributing the largest contingents from outside of Washington.

Over the summer, the troops also stood watch as fencing went up around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which Trump has worked to give a makeover.

When the National Guard deployment in the capital began a year ago with about 800 troops, the task force issued news releases that highlighted how many bags of trash the troops had cleared, how much mulch they had spread and how many feet of fencing they had painted.

But as the deployment dragged on, during the hottest days of summer, Guard patrols could often be found cooling off in air-conditioned subway stations.

In July, the Trump administration signed a $292 million contract to provide up to 2,000 housing units for National Guard troops in Washington, a sign that the president intended to keep them in the capital for the rest of his term.

In December a federal appeals court upheld Trump’s authority to deploy Guard personnel in Washington because of its status as “a federal district.”

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By John Ismay/Alex Kent
c. 2026 The New York Times Company