‘Extremely unusual’: Former Illinois National Guard chief on Trump threat to dispatch troops to Chicago

How typical is it for a president to call up National Guard troops for an urban crime-fighting mission?

“Extremely unusual,” said former Illinois National Guard adjutant general David Harris, current state Department of Revenue director.

President Donald Trump deployed National Guard soldiers to Los Angeles in June and Washington, D.C., on Aug. 11, promising to reduce violence amid opposition by local leaders.

Trump has warned for days Chicago could be next.

But “the president’s authority to call out the National Guard is not absolute,” said Harris, who’s also served as a Republican state lawmaker from Arlington Heights and chief of staff of the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office in 2005 and 2006.

“There’s two things to keep in mind. We are a nation of laws, and the guard operates under laws specified in the U.S. code,” Harris noted.

He cited separate Guard statuses: one as the National Guard under Title 32, and the other as active duty military under Title 10.

“There are significant differences between those respective portions of the U.S. code and what can and cannot be done,” Harris said.

When protests over a federal deportation crackdown in California erupted, Trump deployed 2,000 National Guardsmen to Los Angeles June 7 saying they would deter “lawlessness.”

But “the governor normally makes the request to the president to activate the guard. In this case, it’s the president totally ignoring the governor and saying, ‘I’m going to activate the guard.’ It’s just wrong,” Harris said.

How it works

Under Title 10, guardsmen can be deployed for active military duty by the president to combat zones, like the Iraq War, or domestic emergencies such as rebellions, or to protect federal property and enforce federal law.

Title 32 is the more typical scenario where a state’s governor commands the force but they are federally funded and regulated.

Under Title 32, “the Guard can be called on for what they call state active duty. It might be in response to a flood, it might be in response to a fire, a blizzard, any sort of natural disaster,” Harris explained.

Gov. JB Pritzker called up the National Guard to provide COVID-19 vaccinations in 2021 and at Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s request in 2020 to prevent violence at demonstrations over George Floyd’s death.

“They would man a checkpoint, they weren’t doing patrolling … but they were an adjunct to help police forces. They were not armed (although) they had their weapons nearby,” Harris noted.

When the president deploys the National Guard to a state under Title 10, “they become active duty military personnel. Legally, that’s a big deal,” Harris said.

He cited the Posse Comitatus Act, that bars U.S. troops from civilian law enforcement.

“They went to LA because the president didn’t like peaceful protests. What did they end up doing? They ended up guarding federal buildings.”

Recently, Trump has called Chicago a “killing field,” and vowed to send troops to clean up the city, prompting a backlash from Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson.

On Monday, the president opined that “I really hate to barge into a city and then be treated horribly by corrupt politicians. We may or may not (go to Chicago). We may just go in and do it, which is probably what we should do.”

‘What is the mission?’

When troops are deployed, the essential question is, ‘What is the mission of that military force?’” Harris said.

If it’s crime prevention, “you have to have interaction between the military force and the police force,” Harris said.

“Who’s in charge? Is it going to be Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling or the military commander?”

“Can they talk to each other? The radios may not even sync up with each other. Who makes the determination about who goes where?” he asked.

Another concern is that most guard units carry M4 carbine rifles or M16 rifles, Harris said.

“Those are assault weapons. If you fire the weapon, you can hit somebody three blocks away,” he said.

Troop morale also could be an issue, Harris said.

“There’s a large number of Chicago police who are members of Guard units. You’re taking people away from their normal everyday life to what? Sit around guarding a building?” he asked.