Trump Recasts Planned Arch as High-Tech Military Complex

President Trump has changed direction on the 250-foot triumphal arch he wants to build near Arlington National Cemetery, posting Sunday that it will double as a cutting-edge security hub—complete with drones and rooftop snipers. The new plan is "at the strong request" of the US military, he wrote, for a "top grade" military complex for "National Security purposes," with drone capacity, sniper positions on the roof and plaza, and significant ammunition storage, the Washington Post reports. "There will be no facility like this anywhere in the World," Trump's Truth Social post says.

The recasting echoes Trump's repackaging of his White House ballroom plans into a national security priority with drones and ballistic missiles after that project also ran into opposition, the Hill points out. Last week, the FAA called for installing a "non-standard eternal flame" atop the arch to alert pilots. The National Park Service added that searchlight projectors would go there along with the flame, the National Park Service said. This is the first time anyone has mentioned making the arch a military installation. Although preservation and veterans groups are trying to stop the arch from being built, the administration wants to start construction as soon as November.