On inauguration day, 7,000 active-duty military personnel and 8,000 National Guard members will provide security. Guard members support the Metropolitan Police Department, the U.S. Capitol Police and the U.S. Park Police.
Schwartz was appointed by President Bush in 2008, the only National Guard leader appointed by the president.
Schwartz told the Washington Post:
My troops will be on the street … I’ll see them off but I won’t be able to welcome them back to the armory.
The D.C. National Guard has a unique purpose among state Guard units:
President Jefferson saw how vulnerable America’s democracy would be if the will of a military general could keep the legislative body from enacting the will of the people. To prevent this, he created the D.C. National Guard. The D.C. Guard is the only local National Guard with a national mission—to protect our Federal Government.
The position has been relatively free of political machinations in recent history. Obama did not appoint a new commanding officer. For the first two years of his term, Bush retained Maj. Gen. Warren L. Freeman, who was appointed by President Clinton. In turn, Clinton retained Russell C. Davis for most of his first term; he had been appointed by President George H.W. Bush. I cannot find a record of Reagan making an appointment.
The move is unusual, but not the first Trump’s Administration break with tradition. On Dec. 23, the State Department notified politically-appointed diplomats by cable that they’d been fired.
President-elect Donald J. Trump’s transition staff has issued a blanket edict requiring politically appointed ambassadors to leave their overseas posts by Inauguration Day … breaking with decades of precedent by declining to provide even the briefest of grace periods.
This behavior brings to mind the worst stereotypes of corporate hatch men:
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com