Esper orders hundreds of troops from 82nd Airborne home from D.C. area

Defense Secretary Mark Esper has ordered home several hundred active-duty troops from the 82nd Airborne Division who were brought to the national capital region to respond to protests if needed, a defense official told POLITICO.

This is the second time this week Esper has ordered the troops to head home. Earlier, Esper put multiple active-duty Army units on alert in the D.C. area as a "prudent planning measure" to support local law enforcement dealing with civil unrest.

He initially ordered them home on Wednesday after a night of more peaceful protests in the nation's capital, but reversed course later in the day and planned to keep them in the area for another 24 hours after further analysis, the official said.