Duckworth urges rejection of plan for military use of Trump’s arch in the US — The Hill
Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth urged the Pentagon and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to reject a plan for the military use of a triumphal arch that President Donald Trump plans to build in Washington. In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, she said the agencies should focus on the safety of the US capital’s airspace, The Hill reports.
Plans for drones and snipers
Trump previously wrote on Truth Social that the 250-foot arch, planned to be built between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial, should store a large number of drones and enable their rapid deployment. According to him, snipers and significant ammunition stockpiles are also planned to be placed on the roof and plaza of the structure.
Before this statement, the Trump administration presented the structure as an object for the 250th anniversary of the United States and a tourist attraction. The arch is planned to be located at Memorial Circle, directly in the flight path of aircraft landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
FAA assessment
The FAA released an assessment it had been working on for several months and concluded that the arch itself would not pose a threat to airspace. At the same time, the analysis did not take into account the possible use of military drones.
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Duckworth asked the FAA to explain whether it considered the facility’s military purpose during the review, as well as whether it would revise its conclusion before a final decision on construction. She also asked whether the FAA had received requests for drone operations near Memorial Circle, and asked Hegseth which military entity, if any, initiated the conversion of the arch into a military facility. The senator requested responses by October 5.
Flight safety
The senator linked her concerns to the implementation of recommendations by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), issued after the January 2025 midair collision of an American Airlines passenger plane and an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan Airport. Sixty-seven people were killed; it was the deadliest aviation disaster in the United States since 2001.
The NTSB issued 52 safety recommendations, including 35 for the FAA and 13 for the Pentagon. According to the publication, the NTSB considered only three recommendations for the FAA to have been adequately addressed, while all recommendations addressed to the Pentagon remain open.
