Duckworth calls on Pentagon, FAA to reject Trump’s DC arch plans

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) on Friday demanded the Pentagon and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) keep Washington’s airspace safe by rejecting President Trump’s plans to convert his intended triumphal arch into a military site from which drones may be launched.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, Duckworth pressed for both federal agencies to “reject this foolhardy plan and instead focus on increasing the safety of the airspace.”

Trump over the weekend announced on Truth Social the 250-foot arch he plans to build between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial will “house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas,” as well as store “large quantities” of ammunition.

The declaration came as a surprise for Washington, as up until then, the Trump administration had framed the structure as intended to honor the United States’s 250th anniversary and stand as a tourist attraction.

Duckworth said the intended changes to the arch are “particularly outrageous” given what she said is a “joint failure” of the FAA and Pentagon “to effectively implement corrective actions that were recommended” by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the aftermath of the January 2025 midair collision between an American Airlines commercial jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan Washington National Airport that killed 67 people. The crash is the deadliest aviation incident in the United States since 2001.

The NTSB made 52 safety recommendations following the deadly crash, including 35 for the FAA and 13 for the Pentagon. But the FAA has satisfactorily addressed only three of those recommendations, with the NTSB earlier this month saying the agency’s responses to 11 others were unacceptable. All recommendations directed at the Pentagon remain open.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy in July warned that every passing day without implementation of such recommendations is a “continued and unacceptable risk” to public safety.

“The Trump administration’s failure to faithfully and urgently implement NTSB’s recommendations is compounded by FAA and DoD wasting finite time and attention to stroke President Trump’s fragile ego by focusing efforts on approvals for the construction of his pathetic arch,” wrote Duckworth, a former Army helicopter pilot in the Iraq War who is now the ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee on Aviation, Space and Innovation.

“It is a disservice to the flying public and dishonors the legacy of the lives tragically lost in the DCA midair collision,” she added.

The FAA also spent months determining whether Trump’s arch, which would be built on Memorial Circle and fall directly in the landing path for the city’s airport, poses a hazard to flights coming into and departing the airport.

The evaluation, released Friday, concluded the arch would not pose a risk to airspace, though it did not take into account the presence of military drones.

“The American people cannot afford to stand witness to Trump’s risky plan to place a 250-foot structure along a busy approach path, especially if he follows through on plans to station snipers on the arch and fly drones in this already congested airspace,” according to Duckworth.

The senator asked for answers to numerous questions, including whether the FAA considered the arch for military use during its safety assessment, and if it did not, whether it would reopen the study before a final determination to build the structure.

She also asked Bedford if the FAA had received any request for drone operations at or near Memorial Circle and pressed Hegseth on which military entity, if any, requested that the arch be converted into a military complex.

Duckworth is not the first lawmaker to call out plans for a military fortified arch and its threats to aviation safety. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), whose district includes Arlington, its National Cemetery and National Airport, said Tuesday that putting a drone launching site in Memorial Circle was “a stupid, dangerous, and unworkable idea.”