Trump says his planned arch would become a 'military complex' able to
host drones and snipers
[September 21, 2026]
By SEUNG MIN KIM
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said 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.
The Pentagon said it had no information beyond the president's
statement.
Trump's announcement also comes as the arch, like his other projects,
faces legal challenges. Though the arch has received early approval from
the U.S. 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 President’s belated efforts to manufacture a national security
justification for this project do nothing to cure its fundamental
illegality,” Nicolas Sansone, one of the attorneys representing the
litigants, said Sunday. “Congress has not authorized the arch and unless
and until Congress does so, the project should not be permitted to move
forward.”
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-meter) 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.”
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The arch is proposed for a circle adjacent to the Memorial Bridge,
which is a heavy traffic area as one of a handful of connecting
bridges between the nation's capital and northern Virginia. Rep. Don
Beyer, D-Va., who represents the area, noted another potential
problem, given the proximity to the Washington airport.
“Putting a drone launching site directly in the landing path for DCA
is a stupid, dangerous, and unworkable idea,” Beyer wrote on X.
“Trump clearly expects to lose a lawsuit and therefore wants to set
up a pretext to argue that the arch is tied to national security.
Which is obviously idiotic.”
The project is one of several that the Republican president is
pursuing to leave his lasting imprint on Washington. Among the
others are the White House ballroom, renaming and renovating the
Kennedy Center, refurbishing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool
and rebuilding a golf course in East Potomac Park, which could
significantly reduce the public’s access to running and biking
paths.
The groundbreaking for the arch was to have happened sometime this
month. The project has not yet received final approval from the
National Capital Planning Commission, which greenlit the site and
preliminary plans at its July meeting. The commission is expected to
take up the matter again this fall.
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