President Donald Trump on Sunday said his proposed 250-foot triumphal arch will now be a “top grade” military complex that will house drones, snipers, and ammunition.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that he has agreed to convert the arch “at the strong request” of the U.S. military, and “for National Security purposes.”
The “Military Complex/Triumphal Arch” near Arlington National Cemetery 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,” Trump wrote. “There will be no facility like this anywhere in the World.”
Trump’s new claims about the arch, which come as veterans groups, historic preservationists, and others attempt to stop the project, resemble his arguments for the need to build a ballroom at the White House. Trump initially said the ballroom was needed to entertain guests but more recently has said it was a “desperately needed National Security structure.” That argument also has become central to the administration’s legal claims that the ballroom must be built.
The Trump administration, which plans to begin construction on the arch as soon as November, has been consulting with D.C.’s and Virginia’s historic preservation offices as part of a required federal preservation process. The National Capital Planning Commission previously said the arch is intended to be a “visitor destination” with an observation deck.
The topic of converting the arch to a military complex has not previously been raised, even as the project has undergone months of federally required reviews.
The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the president’s post. The Interior Department, which oversees the federal parkland where the arch would be built, did not immediately reply to requests for comment, and a Pentagon spokesperson said they had nothing to add beyond the president’s post.
Trump has spent nearly a year touting his plans to build an arch at Memorial Circle, a traffic roundabout tucked inside Washington’s boundaries, near the entrance to the military cemetery and managed by the National Park Service.
The president and his deputies have said the arch should be built to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary. The administration contends it does not need congressional approval for the arch because lawmakers a century ago authorized a somewhat similar project near the site.
“This will be one of the Great Pieces of American Architecture, honoring the history and significance of Arlington Cemetery and befitting the most powerful Capital in the World,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum wrote on X this month.
Trump’s plan for the arch has been opposed by military veterans, historic preservationists, and local activists, who have said the towering structure would overshadow the cemetery, alter pedestrians’ views of the Lincoln Memorial and other historic sites, and cause other disruptions.
A D.C. official last week advised the administration to abandon its planned arch and instead pursue a less obtrusive alternative.
Some preservationists and advocates questioned Sunday whether the project would now need to undergo additional reviews, if its purpose is being significantly changed. They also questioned the practicality of constructing a military complex at the center of a widely used traffic circle not far from Reagan National Airport.
“Putting a drone launching site directly in the landing path for DCA is a stupid, dangerous, and unworkable idea,” Rep. Don Beyer (D., Va.), who represents the district that encompasses the airport, said on X, suggesting the plan was a legal pretext.
“The President’s belated efforts to manufacture a national security justification for this project do nothing to cure its fundamental illegality,” said Nicolas Sansone, a lawyer at Public Citizen Litigation Group, a watchdog organization that is representing several veterans who say the large arch would alter their experience when visiting the nearby military cemetery.
A federal judge has been weighing whether to halt the project. U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, an Obama appointee, has also warned the Trump administration not to abruptly move forward with construction on the arch — as Trump did when demolishing the White House’s East Wing to build his ballroom without seeking approval from federal review panels or from Congress.
Trump officials have said they will obtain “all necessary approvals” before beginning construction on the arch.
The president’s claim Sunday about the arch being converted to a military complex follows his administration’s evolving legal strategy to defend the ballroom on similar grounds.
Administration officials have increasingly contended that the ballroom must be built by citing the planned military complex being constructed underneath it and the need to protect the president.
Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, said the administration’s national security claims in the ballroom case had merit.
“The equities in this case turn on complex architectural and security determinations best made by the Secret Service and the military — not judges,” Rao wrote in August.
Other federal judges have said that Trump could not claim broad national security reasons as a basis to pursue a construction project that had not been authorized by Congress.
“While I take seriously the Government’s concerns regarding the safety and security of the White House grounds and the President himself, the existence of a ‘large hole’ beside the White House is, of course, a problem of the President’s own making,” U.S. District Judge Richard Leon — who first blocked work on the ballroom — wrote earlier this year.
The Supreme Court on Aug. 31 ruled 5-4 that construction on the ballroom could continue for now but declined to rule on the merits of the administration’s arguments in that case.
