Zach Wolf writes the What Matters newsletter for CNN. He also serves as a senior writer for CNN Politics, where he writes political analysis and is a frequent guest on CNN’s Early Start. The Trump administration is leaning into national security arguments to remake parts of Washington in line with the president’s fancy and to create a buffer around him. Either the administration is legitimately worried about armed invasion, nervous about an attack at a time when the president has started one war and ordered the kidnapping of another country’s president, or it’s looking for justifications to spend taxpayer money on U.S. President Donald Trump’s pet projects. The concept of national security is a catchall for presidential power. Trump has tried to use it to justify tariffs; deportations; extrajudicial attacks on alleged drug-trafficking boats; and his expansionist designs on Greenland, among many other things. Now, national security is turning the capital into fortress D.C. The ballroom is now a military complex First, the East Wing demolition was rebranded from ballroom preparation to massive underground military installation. Security needs were meant to justify the approximately US$400 million in taxpayer dollars requested for the project despite Trump’s previous promise it would be privately funded. Troops will be in the streets for the rest of his term The deployment of National Guard troops who mill around tourist areas has been extended through the end of Trump’s term, which will cost another $1.4 billion, according to one estimate the Pentagon provided to lawmakers. That’s on top of the hundreds of millions the move has already cost. The triumphal arch will feature snipers and drones Now the triumphal arch Trump wants erected will do double duty as a sniper’s nest, weapons cache and drone port, according to the president’s social media post. The press corps is now a national security threat The Justice Department is defending the president’s decision to expel reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House by arguing in court that stories about his ballroom project and the Iran war could amount to a national security risk. A court hearing is expected Wednesday. There’s already a buffer around Trump and his White House The executive mansion is one of the most secure locations on Earth, and it has had a fallout shelter and command center since the 1940s. Presidents have long invoked national security to justify their actions and to expand their powers, in large part because the courts are reluctant to stand in their way on that subject. And conservative Supreme Court justices bought in to the idea that a new East Wing must be built immediately for security reasons. A historically minded citizen has no cause to sue, they reasoned, in part because of the threat of attack. From the court’s decision: “The Secretary of the Army, for example, represents that ‘[t]he height and mass’ of the planned above-ground ballroom are ‘crucial’ to shield the planned underground military installation ‘from kinetic impacts,’ and that, without such height and mass, ‘engineers would need to dig impractically deep.’” Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s liberals in arguing the construction was likely unlawful. Without mentioning national security, he noted that Congress has not authorized the construction or authorized appropriations to pay for it, as required by law. Fences to the north. Fences to the south In addition to the military complex under the East Wing, the buffer around the building has grown, at least for the moment. The Ellipse to the south of the building has been closed since the UFC match over the summer, apparently to regrow grass destroyed at the event and also to construct a helipad. Down the street from the Ellipse, a large portion of the National Mall has also been closed until 2027 for turf and tree repair, according to the National Park Service. Lafayette Square to the north of the building has been fenced off for fountain repair. But the Secret Service has kept the area closed as it proposes plans to permanently install fencing around the park, which free speech advocates argue should be maintained as a place for gathering and protest. The park would reopen, according to Secret Service plans presented to the Commission on Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission, but gates would make it easier to close again. Most recently, the Secret Service said the Ellipse and Lafayette Square should remain closed through the end of the month during a visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping. A sniper’s nest between a cemetery and a river Rebranding the triumphal arch as a national security priority is the strangest riff on Trump’s frequent citation of national security to get things he wants. Never mind that the site planned for the arch sits in the middle of a traffic circle in the middle of a highway between the Potomac River and Arlington National Cemetery with ample military sites, including the Pentagon and Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, nearby. When plans were presented to the National Capital Planning Commission, which has been stuffed with Trump supporters, there were descriptions of public spaces rather than a military site. Apparently, the plans are changing, at least according to Trump’s social media post. Trump on Sunday described the arch as “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.” That sounds like the kind of defensive capability needed to repel an attack rather than to maintain law and order. Trojan horse or triumphal arch? CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, John Miller, noted that U.S. law precludes the use of the military against U.S. citizens, so who exactly are these snipers protecting the city against? The D.C. police, the FBI and multiple other agencies have SWAT teams in the city, he said, which makes the need for a triumphal arch full of military gear confusing. “It’s not much of a Trojan horse in that the cat’s out of the bag,” Miller told CNN’s Pamela Brown on Monday. “Anybody who would target Washington, who was a foreign adversary, would know what it was, what was in it, and where to hit.” The arch would be 250 feet (76 metres) high, still safe for air traffic going into nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which recently gave approval for the arch, although its green light said nothing about military drones or snipers. Let’s all hope the U.S. is never at the point where military snipers are taking aim across the river from the top of a triumphal arch. Pentagon spending is a priority The administration has prioritized national security spending; Trump has promised a “Golden Dome” missile defence shield to protect the U.S. from a potential missile attack. It is modelled on Israel’s Iron Dome, although the difference in scale between the U.S. and Israel is making things difficult and the cost astronomical. That defence shield is one reason Trump also wants to drastically increase military spending, ramping up to about $1.5 trillion, an increase of about 40 per cent, although Congress has not yet approved the jump. Washington has been attacked before The British sacked the city in 1814. Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked commercial planes and flew one into the Pentagon in 2001. But the size and geography of the U.S. make any type of siege against the city unthinkable. It was heavily fortified and encircled by military forts during the Civil War, when it was a main target of the Confederate army. President Abraham Lincoln even came under fire during a visit to Fort Stevens in the northern part of the city. Some of those forts have been turned into parks today. The former estate of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, directly across the Potomac, which had been seized by the Union during the war, was bought by Congress and converted into Arlington National Cemetery, outside of which Trump wants to install the arch/sniper/drone complex. Trump and some of his supporters have described the influx of immigrants to the U.S. as an invasion, but there’s no evidence to suggest D.C. is in danger of attack. The question over whether the administration can use the wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport suspected gang members without a court hearing has been left unresolved as the people in question were ultimately deported under different authority. But dangers faced by presidents frequently come from within Trump has been the subject of assassination attempts, and in 2020, during his first term, he was rushed into the White House bunker during tense protests in Lafayette Square. The fact of those threats is helping Trump to use the necessity of national security to get what he wants now, even if he didn’t make the argument until planning for his ballroom and arch were well underway. Analysis by Zachary B. Wolf, CNN
