Senator Tammy Duckworth has urged the Pentagon and Federal Aviation Administration to reject Donald Trump’s plan to turn a proposed 250-foot triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery into a military complex capable of hosting snipers and launching and landing drones.
The Illinois Democrat said the structure’s proposed use could create risks in the already congested airspace around Ronald Reagan National Airport, despite an FAA assessment last week that the arch posed no hazard to aircraft arriving at or departing from the airport.
“The FAA and DoD must reject this foolhardy plan and instead focus on increasing the safety of the airspace,” Ms Duckworth wrote in a letter to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford.
Mr Trump announced the proposed conversion in a Truth Social post over the weekend. Ms Duckworth described the announcement as “bizarre, unhinged early morning social media rants” and accused the administration of pursuing “yet another Trump vanity project”.
She said the plan was particularly concerning after what she called the “joint failure” of the FAA and the Defence Department to implement safety measures recommended following the January 2025 mid-air collision near Reagan Airport, which killed 67 people.
The crash involved a US Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet approaching the airport. The National Transportation Safety Board subsequently issued 52 recommendations.
Thirty-five of those recommendations were directed to the FAA, but only three have been closed. The NTSB said earlier this month that the FAA’s responses to 11 recommendations were unacceptable, while all 13 recommendations directed to the Pentagon remained open.
“It is disturbing to see Federal officials devote enormous attention to an unnecessary, proposed structure while the NTSB and the public are still demanding action on recommendations intended to prevent another catastrophic collision in our skies,” Ms Duckworth wrote.
“The American people cannot afford to stand witness to Trump’s risky plan to place a 250-foot structure along a busy approach path, especially if he follows through on plans to station snipers on the arch and fly drones … in the already congested airspace.”
Ms Duckworth, a former Army helicopter pilot who lost both legs while serving in the Iraq War, said the FAA’s safety review was incomplete. She asked whether officials had considered the arch’s proposed use as a military complex and called on Mr Hegseth to identify which military body, if any, had requested the change and what threat assessment supported it.
She requested answers by October 5. Democratic Virginia Representative Don Beyer separately described the proposed drone-launching site in the airport’s landing path as “a stupid, dangerous, and unworkable idea”.
The FAA and Defence Department declined to comment on the arch, referring inquiries to the White House.
