Seattle almost called the National Guard for help -- until Trump did elsewhere

SEATTLE — Last summer, technology staff for the city of Seattle decided they needed help: The library system had recently suffered a debilitating ransomware attack, the threat of AI agents was growing, and federal assistance was in peril. The FIFA World Cup was on the horizon.

IT leaders came up with a plan: Call in the National Guard.

The previously unreported deliberations over bringing in the National Guard — and why they were torpedoed — highlight a tension in Seattle over where to draw the line between useful partnerships and the city’s efforts to roadblock federal intervention.

The conversation about how to navigate technology advancements contains echoes of the recent debate over surveillance cameras in Seattle. In both cases, backers argue the tangible benefits outweigh hypothetical concerns over federal exploitation, while opponents say now is not the time to provide possible new avenues for data collection by the federal government.

Ultimately, following opposition from city employees and union representatives concerned about any military partnership during President Donald Trump's term, the plan was dropped.

“We decided this partnership with a National Guard unit was not the best fit for the City of Seattle, and we will not be moving forward with this plan,” said Megan Erb, spokesperson for Seattle IT.

Conversations began in August, according to city staff and union representatives, when recently hired Chief Information Security Officer Jake Hammock, who had served in the U.S. Army in intelligence and cybersecurity, pursued the idea.

The city was still smarting from a ransomware attack that crippled the library’s systems for roughly three months and revealed vulnerabilities in the city’s defenses against bad actors trying to exploit local governments. The attack exposed nearly 27,000 Social Security numbers and brought down the library's online catalog and loaning systems, e-books and e-audiobooks, in-person Wi-Fi, the library website, and more.

Simultaneously, there were concerns about how committed the federal government was to helping local jurisdictions with cyber defense. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, established during Trump’s first term to help fill cybersecurity gaps at the local level, became a target of funding and staffing cuts throughout 2025.

Meanwhile, staff were becoming increasingly concerned about hackers deploying AI agents into the city’s systems, which behave in ways that can be even more difficult to detect than humans.

All of this was unfolding as the city began its preparations for the World Cup. Federal officials have warned the event — across North America, not just in Seattle — could attract physical and cyber attacks, particularly in the context of the war in Iran. Meanwhile, a $625 million Federal Emergency Management Agency grant to bolster security for the 11 host cities was stalled. It was finally released earlier this month.

The 252nd Cyberspace Operations Group, based out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, could help the city write and practice playbooks for possible future attacks. The Guard frequently offers briefings to local governments on cybersecurity and last year partnered with Idaho on its safety initiative.

The partnership would represent “an effective, and proactive, win for the City,” an IT representative said in a communication with union officials last year obtained by The Seattle Times.

The conversation with the National Guard advanced far enough along that staff drafted a memorandum of understanding and a notice to labor. Erb said it was never elevated to the mayor’s office — Bruce Harrell's at the time.

The National Guard cybersecurity deployment would have been overseen by the state, and its members accountable to city staff under the agreement, but the Trump administration had, on several occasions, sought to federalize the Guard and some staff raised concerns about giving it access to the city’s back end systems.

By that time, Guard members from across the U.S. were stationed in Washington, D.C., under the premise of stopping crime, and California and the federal government were engaged in a legal battle over the federalization of the Guard in Los Angeles.

Karina Shagren, spokesperson for the Washington National Guard, said the cyber teams don't retain data and if they were activated for a separate mission —- by, say, the federal government — their partnership with Seattle would have ended and access to data would have been cut off.

Nevertheless, concerns about the Guard's involvement were loud enough to cause the city's IT staff to drop it.

I just don’t think the citizens of Seattle want the military having access to their information," said Steve Kovac, business representative for IBEW Local 77, which has members in the city's IT department.

On top of concerns about the timing, particularly right before the mayoral election, union representatives also complained about work being "skimmed" away from union members at the city.

"Your security staff is already overworked," Kovac said. "Why not just hire more people?"

Staff denied the agreement would siphon work away from city staff; the Guard members would answer to city workers and, in fact, allow them to do higher level work, they argued.

Still, Rob Lloyd, the city's recently departed chief technology officer, ultimately agreed with Kovac that the possible blowback wasn't worth it and the partnership was shelved in October.

The IT issues remain.

Law enforcement and security experts more broadly have been raising concerns about lack of coordination between different levels of government in advance of the World Cup. The ongoing shutdown of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has complicated matters further, but the consternation dates back months.

Many of the matches will be held in cities run by Democrats who fundamentally distrust the federal government under President Donald Trump.

"Local agencies are not as connected as they should be for planning, staffing, coordination, and real time information sharing for a complex, multi-jurisdictional event,” Mike Sena, president of the National Fusion Center Association, said in written testimony to the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee last month. The association represents the intelligence sharing hubs known as fusion centers.

City representatives are expected to have more information about security during the World Cup in the coming weeks.

"The City has experienced (technology department) staffers who have been working diligently to prepare for the World Cup," a spokesperson said.

In an apparent acknowledgment of the World Cup's unique nature, Mayor Katie Wilson is allowing police surveillance cameras to be installed in the stadium district. She paused a planned expansion to other parts of the city, citing widespread worries the footage could be used by federal immigration authorities to target and deport immigrants in the city. Her rationale to keep already placed cameras running, though, reflects police and some residents' support of their use in solving crimes.

The stadium district cameras will only be turned on in the event of a "credible threat." Several members of the Seattle City Council, including chair of the public safety committee Bob Kettle, said they should be turned on ahead of time because not all threats can be caught.

And the Guard's Shagren of the said members of the Air National Guard will be on hand monitoring radio frequency signals, "including those associated with drones, to help ensure a safe environment for visitors and event operations.