Trump converts DC triumphal arch plan into military complex
President Trump said Sunday that plans for a triumphal arch spanning Washington, D.C., and Virginia will incorporate a “top grade military complex,” at the request of the U.S. military “for National Security purposes.” The complex would house, store and enable rapid use of large numbers of drones, snipers on the roof and plaza areas, and large quantities of sniper ammunition in storage, Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“I have agreed to convert the magnificent Triumphal Arch, planned since the Civil War Era many years ago, at the Receptive Circle adjoining the Arlington Memorial Bridge, into a top grade Military Complex/Triumphal Arch, to house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas, and additionally have and hold large quantities of sniper ammunition in storage,” Trump wrote.
He added that the complex will be like none “anywhere in the World.”
“Out of the 59 top cities and Capitals, Washington, D.C., IS THE ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD THAT DOES NOT HAVE A TRIUMPHAL ARCH, but it will now and, by far, the greatest of them all!” his post concludes.
The triumphal arch is intended to be 250 feet tall, which, if completed, would make it the tallest arch in the world, towering over the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and taller than the Monumento a la Revolución in Mexico City. It would be located along the Arlington Memorial Bridge, which symbolically represents the reunified United States connecting the North and South following the Civil War.
The concept of a complex described as crucial to national security purposes echoes arguments made about the White House ballroom, as Trump has said there will be a “massive complex” under the ballroom. Lawyers for the administration have said in court that delays in the construction amount to a national security threat.
Trump’s announcement follows a Federal Aviation Administration proposal to top the arch with a “non-standard eternal flame” to make it more noticeable for pilots. The National Park Service has said searchlight projectors would accompany the flame.
The FAA said Friday in a hazard study that the arch “would not pose a hazard to aircraft” after a review by safety experts that examined “airspace, air traffic patterns and procedures around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, as well as operations at nearby military/public-use airports.”
The agency said in June that the arch would need red lights, citing its guidance that structures in Washington more than 200 feet tall “should normally be marked and/or lighted,” though an “aeronautical study may reveal that the absence of marking and/or lighting will not impair aviation safety.”
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said earlier this month that work on the arch would soon begin, though it was not entirely clear whether excavation work would begin or if the department was preparing for the start of excavation.
