STRAT | October 2, 2025 | National Guard Deployments and the Expanding War on Narco-terrorists

In this episode, retired Marine Intelligence Officer Hal Kempfer examines the Trump administration’s fast-paced 2025 deployments of federalized National Guard troops to major U.S. cities. Framed by the Administration as a strategy to combat crime, immigration, and homelessness, the move has sparked nationwide debate over the use of the military and testing the limits of federal intervention in the homeland. From Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. and from Portland and Memphis, these deployments are redefining the balance of power between state and federal authority and spotlighting a “loophole” within the Posse Comitatus Act, wherein active-duty National Guard troops under federally funded Title 32 status are working for the state and potentially performing missions that are prohibited to federal troops under federal law. At the same time, President Trump has declared Mexican drug cartel members as ‘unlawful combatants’, signaling a dramatic shift in how these cartel members are to be handled, and coinciding with an expansion of U.S. military engagement in the Western Hemisphere.

Takeaways:

   •    National Guard deployments expanded from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., and beyond.

    •    Federal troops tasked with supporting ICE in logistics and enforcement.

    •    Governors divided: some request support, others challenge deployments in court.

    •    Legal disputes center on Posse Comitatus and Title 32 authority.

    •    Oregon sued over deployments, citing risks to public safety.

    •    Trump declares cartel members as “unlawful combatants,” putting them in the same status as Al Qaeda

    •    Parallels drawn to post-9/11 legal precedents and controversies.

    •    Growing shift of U.S. military focus to Western Hemisphere threats.

 

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