What dates did the 2025 National Guard deployment in Washington DC start and end?

1. How the deployment began — clear start dates reported

Multiple contemporaneous reports place the initial D.C. National Guard arrival in mid‑August 2025; Stars and Stripes specifically reports Guard troops deployed at the National Mall on Aug. 14, 2025, and other outlets describe deployments beginning in August broadly ^{[1] [5] [6]}. Reuters and The Guardian note members had been armed and on patrol since August 2025, underscoring August as the operational start month ^{[5] [6]}.

2. Extensions and shifting end dates — the deployment was prolonged

Initial orders that placed Guard members in D.C. were extended several times. A National Guard official told Military Times the DC Guard’s orders were extended “through December” as of early September 2025 ^[2]. Later, formal orders reviewed by the Associated Press and reported by Military Times and Military.com show a November order extending the DC National Guard “through the end of February” ^{[3] [4]}. The Guardian and other outlets similarly report extensions through at least February ^[7].

3. Legal and political context that affected timing

The deployment’s duration was shaped by legal challenges and political decisions. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb sued to remove the Guard in early September, and court activity — including a federal judge hearing filings and stays — affected whether and how long troops remained; courts issued rulings that were sometimes stayed pending appeal ^{[3] [8]}. Political actors in the administration and state governors also extended or provided troops, which drove rolling extensions ^{[7] [9]}.

4. Numbers and mission language linked to timing

Reporting ties the August start to an initial contingent of roughly 800 D.C. Guard members and about 2,000 total Guard troops in the city, with numbers growing as additional states contributed and as the administration ordered more troops after incidents in late November 2025 ^{[10] [1] [11]}. The administration framed the mission as “crime‑fighting” or “Safe and Beautiful,” language used to justify ongoing presence and therefore extensions ^{[10] [9]}.

5. Conflicting details and why exact “end date” is unclear

Sources show a moving target: some public orders lapsed (one expired in September), then were extended through December, and later formal orders (reviewed in November) extended deployment “through the end of February” — meaning there was no single fixed end date but successive authorizations ^{[2] [3] [4]}. Local reporting noted plans and pay authorizations that would have allowed troops to remain beyond November 30, 2025, but also stressed no single, publicly posted order gave a final termination date at that time ^{[9] [3]}.

6. What the sources do and do not say — limitations

Available sources consistently report the start as August 2025, with Aug. 14 cited specifically by Stars and Stripes and multiple outlets citing August generally ^{[1] [5] [6]}. They document extensions through December and a formal order extending the DC deployment “through the end of February” ^{[2] [3] [4]}. Sources do not produce a single definitive public record stating a final termination date beyond “through the end of February”; therefore a concrete end date after those extensions is not found in current reporting ^{[3] [4]}.

7. Bottom line for readers

If you need firm, documentable start and stop dates from reporting: the deployment began in August 2025 (with Aug. 14 widely cited) and, according to formal orders reviewed in November, was extended “through the end of February” ^{[1] [3] [4]}. Because the mission was repeatedly extended and was subject to litigation and further administrative action, the deployment’s ultimate end date is not definitively specified in the cited sources beyond that February extension ^{[3] [2]}.