Trump officials propose fencing off public spaces outside White House

The Trump administration is seeking to permanently fence Lafayette Square — the public park across from the White House, where tourists and protesters often congregate — as officials say they are seeking to balance Americans’ access to the famous grounds with the need to protect the president, according to a proposal released Friday afternoon.

Under the plan, which was jointly crafted by the Secret Service, the White House and the Interior Department, officials laid out two options that they say would allow them to quickly close the park if they identify a security risk. The fences would be eight to nine feet tall and would replace the current “piecemeal” system of relying on temporary fences and bollards, the proposal says. It also says that the Secret Service anticipates “phased implementation” of the fences next year.

“The objective is to enhance long-term safety, preserve the park’s identity as a significant [National Park Service] landscape, and maintain public access to this nationally symbolic space,” according to the administration’s proposal, which was posted to the Commission of Fine Arts’s website. The commission is set to review the proposal Thursday.

The White House and the Secret Service did not immediately respond to questions about the proposal on Friday afternoon. Administration officials have said they are reassessing White House security after repeated threats to President Donald Trump, including a shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner in April.

The plan also says the administration is considering building new fences where Pennsylvania Avenue NW intersects 15th and 17th streets NW outside the White House, but it offers few details.

The White House and Secret Service would also be able to close those new fences and prevent pedestrian access in front of the White House if they determine there are security risks, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal conversations.

The Washington Post reported last month about the plan to fence Lafayette Square and reported earlier Friday about the plan to fence Pennsylvania Avenue.

The administration’s proposal was criticized by lawmakers and historic preservation groups. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.’s nonvoting congressional representative, said Friday that she would introduce legislation to bar fencing at Lafayette Square, Pennsylvania Avenue and other parts of the White House campus.

“More fencing around the President’s Park would send the wrong message to the nation and the world by continuing to transform our democracy from one that is accessible and of the people to one that is exclusive and fearful of its own citizens,” Norton said in a statement.

Some activists also said they worried about a chilling effect on free speech if new fences are installed around the White House.

“Lafayette Park and Pennsylvania Avenue are critical for First Amendment activity,” said Melissa Byrne, a progressive activist who has helped organize demonstrations outside the White House. “These changes remove all real sight and sound access. It also hinders the tourist experience.”

The idea of a permanent fence around Lafayette Square was privately discussed during the first Trump administration, including when protesters thronged the park in the days after the death of George Floyd in May 2020, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal administration conversations. After protesters breached temporary fences around the White House complex, Trump was briefly taken to the White House’s underground bunker for security.

Friday’s proposal also calls for repaving Lafayette Square, saying that the current pavers can come loose too easily and could be used as “projectiles” during periods of unrest.

The White House has long relied on temporary barriers, staffed by Secret Service personnel, to shut down Lafayette Square and Pennsylvania Avenue to pedestrians. Secret Service officials have previously suggested building permanent fences around Lafayette Square and on Pennsylvania Avenue but faced resistance from past administrations over the perception of restricting public access to the White House, the people said.

Trump officials and the Secret Service have conducted additional reviews of presidential security risks after the shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner, the third time in less than two years that Trump found himself under the threat of gunfire.

The stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House — which offers the closest view of the building for pedestrians — has long drawn visitors from around the world. The space has also been used by protesters for a wide array of political causes.

Several organizations, such as the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery and the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, are also located on Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House. Spokespeople for the Renwick Gallery and the Milken Center did not respond to questions about whether their organizations had been briefed on the planned fences and the effect on their workforce.

Past administrations have considered a range of efforts to boost security around the White House grounds, including building more and higher fencing.

President Bill Clinton in 1995 shut down Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House to cars, turning a long-standing road into a pedestrian thoroughfare.

“It should be seen as a responsible security step necessary to preserve our freedom, not part of a long-term restriction of our freedom,” Clinton said in a radio address announcing the change.

Officials in the early 2000s repaved the stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue and made other changes to make it more pedestrian-friendly, an effort overseen by then-first lady Laura Bush. The project also included building new security booths and bollards that remain in use today.

“The redesign of America’s Main Street has transformed the Avenue from one cluttered with ad-hoc security measures to a beautiful civic area befitting one of the nation’s most prominent and visited destinations,” the National Capital Planning Commission wrote in 2004.

Michael McGill, a former General Services Administration official who served on the commission at the time, said he was concerned that new fencing around the White House and the Secret Service’s push for security measures would lead to Pennsylvania Avenue being wrongly shut down for pedestrians.

“This would mean that residents and tourists alike would be unable to see the White House from any reasonable distance, especially if Trump plants more trees in the Park,” McGill wrote in an email Thursday, alluding to the president’s separate plan to plant 47 trees in Lafayette Square.