Trump’s arch would be a ‘military complex’ hosting drones, snipers

President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the massive arch he wants to build between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery would become a “top grade military complex” able to host drones and snipers while storing ammunition.

It is one more example of how Trump is insisting that his initiatives to beautify the White House and the city are also serving a defensive purpose. Trump has been calling the new White House ballroom a “military complex” and arguing it is necessary for national security purposes.

Trump’s announcement also comes as the arch, like his other projects, faces legal challenges. Though the arch has received early approval from the US Commission of Fine Arts, whose members were all tapped by Trump, a group of three veterans and an architectural historian sued, saying the project needs to be approved by Congress.

The Republican president said in a social media post that he had agreed, at the “strong request” of the military, to convert the planned 250-foot-tall (76-metre) memorial arch “into 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.”