This memorandum responds directly to your January 4, 2021 memorandum regarding the District of Columbia request for District of Columbia National Guard (DCNG) support in response to planned demonstrations from January 5-6, 2021. You are authorized to approve the requested support, subject to my guidance below and subject to consultation with the Attorney General, as required by Executive Order 11485.
Without my subsequent, personal authorization, the DCNG is not authorized the following:
* To be issued weapons, ammunition, bayonets, batons, riot control agents or ballistic protection equipment such as helmets and body armor.
* To employ any riot control agents.
* To interact physically with protesters, except when necessary in self-defense or defense of others.
* Prohibited from sharing “equipment with law enforcement agencies” or seeking support from any non-DC National Guard units.
* Forbidden from conducting “searches, seizures, arrests, or other similar direct law enforcement activity.”
* Forbidden from using “Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance assets” or to conduct “Incident, Awareness and Assessment activities.”
* No helicopters or “any other air assets.”