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secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem Urgent requests are being made to demolish more than a dozen historic buildings in Washington, D.C., citing “risks to life and property,” which she claims endanger federal agents.
The proposal was first proposed by washington postwill destroy 17 buildings on St. Elizabeth’s West Campus, causing concerns that have already Fighting the Donald Trump Administration In terms of the destruction of the White House Make way for the Presidential Ballroom.
Federal government wants to redevelop 176-acre campus to create more than 5 million square feet of office space The rapidly expanding Department of Homeland SecurityThere is also enough parking space to accommodate 14,000 employees, according to the U.S. General Services Administration.
seen in a letter to the agency independentpreservationist groups have raised “strong objections” to the proposed demolition of the properties, some of which are more than 100 years old, arguing there is no evidence of an “emergency” other than one “unilaterally declared” by Noem.
“Unilateral statements like this are problematic because they bypass procedural safeguards designed to ensure stability, legality and fairness,” Elizabeth Merritt, general counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Rebecca Miller, director of the Washington, D.C. Preservation Alliance, said in a letter.
They argued that the Department of Homeland Security has “the highest security rating for government facilities” and that the potential threat “indicates a fundamental flaw in the overall security of the facility” rather than the vacant building.
Miller said four of the 17 buildings the Department of Homeland Security wants to demolish have received approval for demolition from the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission on Fine Arts.
“This is about security,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement. The Independent.
“DHS’ security and safety assessment has determined that these dilapidated, vacant buildings on DHS campuses pose an unacceptable safety, security and emergency response risk,” she added.
According to the GSA, the campus was originally established by Congress in 1855 at a site known as the “Government Psychiatric Hospital.”
It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979. In 1990, it was designated a National Historic Landmark.
In 2001, the Department of Health and Human Services classified the campus as a “surplus property.”
In a recent security assessment, DHS officials claimed that vacant buildings on campus could be “exploited by malicious insiders with legitimate access, familiarity with the campus, or detailed knowledge of security procedures.”
The report suggests that these “insiders” may be employees and federal contractors who may abuse their access to “plan, orchestrate, or execute harmful activities.”
This could include targeting officials and “disrupting essential operations and compromising sensitive information or infrastructure,” the report said.
McLaughlin told reporters that several buildings “cannot be cleared by law enforcement or first responders, creating security blind spots near senior leadership and critical operations.” independent. “Demolition is the only permanent corrective action to eliminate these problems.”
Preservationists argue that the Department of Homeland Security has provided no evidence to support claims that “urgent” demolition is needed.
The proposed demolition comes after Trump demolished the East Wing of the White House to build a ballroom, a project that has That surged to $400 million, allegedly at no taxpayer burden.
National Trust for Historic Preservation sue the trump administration Earlier this month, the project was blocked until it received at least congressional approval, a full design review, an environmental assessment and public input.
“No president is legally permitted to demolish portions of the White House without any review — not President Trump, not President Biden, nor anyone else,” the federal lawsuit states. “No president is legally permitted to construct a ballroom on public property without giving the public an opportunity to participate.”
Trump told reporters on Monday that he would like future presidential inaugurations to be held here.
“I’m building a grand, big, beautiful ballroom, which is what the country wants and what the White House has wanted for 150 years,” Trump said at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. “It’s bigger than I told you…after realizing we were going to have an inauguration in that building. It’s all bulletproof glass…They call it a drone-free roof. Drones won’t touch it.”