Final Trump arch plans submitted to city omit proposed military complex

Final site plans for President Trump’s proposed, 250-foot-tall triumphal arch do not mention the military features he previously said he would add to the project, according to documentation the Interior Department submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission.

The president announced in late September the structure, slated to be built between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial, would include a “ top grade military complex ” housing a large number of drones, snipers and ammunition. While such fortification was not part of the original proposal, Trump said it was added per the military’s “strong request.”

The latest project proposal, as shared with the planning commission, does not show any of the military features but does include other recent suggested changes — such as the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) recommended eternal flame. The D.C. planning agency is set to review the plans during its Nov. 5 meeting.

A White House official told The Washington Post on a condition of anonymity that Trump’s plans for the arch had not changed, rather, that the administration did not plan to publicly release any information about the project pertaining to national security at this stage.

The Post, who first reported on the final site plan, also cited an Interior Department spokesperson, Katie Martin, who said the current designs of the arch are capable of accommodating national security functions and more.

The Hill has reached out to the Interior Department for comment.

Trump’s plan to militarize the structure sparked concerns and criticism from lawmakers.

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), whose district includes Arlington, Va. — home to the National Cemetery and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport — criticized the plan to install a drone launching site directly in the landing path for incoming aircraft.

“Trump’s notion to make his vanity arch an ammunition depot for ‘snipers’ in a location where snipers have never been needed would place a large weapons cache within feet of thousands of tourists, pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers on major commuter traffic thoroughfares and Metro’s Blue Line,” Beyer said in a statement.

The FAA has concluded the arch would not pose a risk to airspace, according to a project evaluation published last month. Beyer argued the review did not take into account the presence of military drones.

Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, called the idea to militarize the arch “not just wrong, it’s gonzo bonkers, it’s just completely divorced from reality.”

“That arch is going to be in the middle of a traffic circle. I don’t know what it’s defending against,” Bolton told MS NOW last month.