With litigation threatening to derail President Trump’s plans for a 250-foot triumphal arch in Washington, two of his top aides on Wednesday submitted sworn statements to a federal court claiming that the arch was needed for national security purposes.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Markwayne Mullin, the homeland security secretary, contended that even though national security was never invoked in the initial proposal for the arch, the project was now needed to keep the United States safe from drone attacks.
“The arch is a generational national defense opportunity to mitigate these evolving threats,” Mr. Hegseth told the court. He added that the arch’s proposed height created a “significant elevation advantage.”
Likewise, Mr. Mullin told the court that the arch was “intended to incorporate a number of features that will support national security.”
No changes would be needed to the design of the arch to convert it into a base of anti-drone operations, both men said in their statements.
“The implementation of the capabilities discussed in this declaration would not require any structural modifications or alterations to the existing plans for the arch,” Mr. Hegseth said.
The arch is slated to receive final approval next week from the National Capital Planning Commission, which is led by allies of Mr. Trump’s.
Trump administration officials have told the court that they could break ground on the project immediately after the vote. The Justice Department informed the judge in the case, Tanya S. Chutkan, that construction could begin as early as Nov. 5.
Mr. Trump made no mention of national security when he first proposed the idea of honoring the country’s 250th anniversary with a 250-foot arch. No plans submitted to any review board used national security as a justification for the project.
But the president last month suddenly shifted the rationale for the arch, claiming it would be used as a military depot outfitted with “large numbers of drones,” snipers and ammunition. The arch would be located in the middle of a traffic circle at the intersection of Arlington Memorial Bridge and Memorial Avenue.
Courts have typically been deferential to presidents in matters of national security, and Mr. Trump has invoked it to justify a series of actions.
The president has cited national security as a reason to build a large new ballroom at the White House; investigate leaks to journalists that embarrassed his administration; bar journalists from the White House; strip union rights from thousands of federal workers; deploy the military to the Mexican border to crack down on migrants; pause the construction of wind farms off the East Coast; and exempt oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from protections for endangered whales.
A group of Vietnam War veterans have sued to stop construction of the arch, which would block the view of Arlington National Cemetery from the Lincoln Memorial. The lawsuit claims the project is unconstitutional without approval from Congress. A lawyer representing the veterans has said that Mr. Trump is “trying to paper over a patently unlawful project by giving it a veneer of national security justification.”
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