Trump officials admit they are unaware of plans to turn DC arch into ‘military complex’ like the president promised

Trump officials admit they are unaware of plans to turn DC arch into ‘military complex’ like the president promised Trump wants to put ‘large numbers of drones’ and ‘snipers’ on the structure. Planners say they haven’t received any designs for it - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Already a member? Log in Donald Trump wants “large numbers of drones, plus Snipers” and a “top grade Military Complex” built inside his 250-foot “triumphal” arch. But administration officials say they haven’t received any such plans. The administration, through a preservation council led by a Trump appointee, told advocacy groups who have raised alarms about the project that the government is moving forward with plans for the towering monument at Memorial Circle near Arlington National Cemetery. But the council has not received any information from the Department of Defense about turning it into what the president described this month as a “top grade Military Complex/Triumphal Arch” that will “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.” Officials with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation told advocacy groups on Tuesday that the administration has not submitted any plans that line up with the president’s dreams, The Independent has learned. The Washington Post first reported the discussions. Last week, the council abruptly ended a federally required review to determine how badly the president’s plans will harm the nation’s capital, already facing a flood of construction projects remaking Washington, D.C., in his image. In a letter to local governments and advocacy groups last week, the Trump appointee leading the board said they are ending further review after preservationists were invited to only one planning meeting. “We are hereby terminating consultation,” wrote Travis Voyles, the vice chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. The Independent has requested comment from the White House and the Pentagon. Last month, the National Park Service said the administration is moving forward with the plans despite a lengthy report that detailed how it will unavoidably create “adverse effects” and harm historic sites in the nation’s capital. The advisory council will now make its own recommendations to Trump’s Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, whose agency is overseeing construction plans. The Cultural Landscape Foundation, a consulting party to the Section 106 review of the arch project, called Voyles’s letter an “audacious” and “dangerous” threat to public review of the nation’s landmarks. “To say that we're gob smacked is an understatement,” the group wrote. “Rather than address the ‘public’s significant concerns regarding the adverse effects’ on one of the nation's most revered and symbolically important cultural landscapes through an authentic public engagement process that doesn't foreclose avoidance as a precondition, the administration through its proxy … has decided the public's role is meaningless, unimportant, and of no value whatsoever,” the statement said. “They seem to be making up the rules as they go along,” Charles Birnbaum, president of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, told The Independent last week. “They basically said, ‘it’s going to move forward,’” Birnbaum said. “They wrapped this in ‘national security’ like they did everything else.” The Trump administration has repeatedly invoked spurious national security concerns to push plans for his pet projects, from constructing a massive ballroom and blocking reporters from the White House to banning gender-affirming healthcare for transgender inmates. Trump unveiled plans to turn the arch into a military installation on his Truth Social account earlier this month, claiming that the request came from the U.S. military for “national security purposes.” “At the strong request of the United States Military, and for National Security purposes, 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. “There will be no facility like this anywhere in the World,” Trump added, before adding: “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.” Senator Jeff Merkley, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees money for federal parks, introduced legislation on Monday to block funding for the arch and to prevent the administration from demolishing monuments without receiving congressional approval. That legislation was blocked by Republican Sen. Mike Lee. “Trump’s Arch is a monument to his own ego — a waste of our taxpayer dollars,” Merkley said in a statement. “The Trump Arch is a monumentally bad idea, and it is abundantly clear there is no authorization from Congress for this massive arch.” On Thursday morning, Merkley and other members of Congress will join a protest at Memorial Circle organized by advocacy group Public Citizen alongside military veterans. “Trump’s planned construction is not only illegal. It is an affront to American veterans and their families,” Public Citizen said in a statement. “The arch will sit on Memorial Circle along the Potomac River, impeding the symbolic line-of-sight between the Lincoln Memorial in D.C. and Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, where hundreds of thousands of our nation’s military members have been laid to rest,” the group added. Public Citizen, on behalf of multiple Vietnam veterans and an architectural historian, has also filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to block construction. Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments