The President reaffirmed during his November 7 post-election press conference that the deployment of thousands of U.S. active duty military personnel to the nation’s southwest border would continue apace. Pentagon officials report that the deployment could exceed 8,000, even in its current form.
At the same time, the Pentagon is no longer calling the US military activity a named mission, after initially branding it ‘Operation Faithful Patriot.’ Instead it will be called “border support,” reflecting that the action is in support of civilian agencies and not a military-led operation. Secretary Mattis said the deployment was a substantive determination and that the military does not “do stunts.”
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