The official residence of Vice President Biden, on the grounds of the Naval Observatory in Northwest Washington, is about to get an expensive security upgrade.
The Department of the Navy plans to install a 10-foot-high “ornamental” fence and additional security checkpoints around the vice president’s residential compound. The project was approved by the National Capital Planning Commission, which must green-light building projects within the capital city.
The security upgrades consist of “approximately 1,600 linear feet of new ornamental security fence, two new guard houses, four new gates, five new wedge vehicle barriers, and one relocated guard house,” according to Navy planning documents.
The project will cost at least $1.7 million, according to a Navy spokeswoman.
The U.S. Secret Service is footing the bill for two new guard posts, but would not release cost estimates for its portion of the project.
The new fence and security checkpoints will closely resemble the existing security system that encloses the campus of the Naval Observatory, located just off Massachusetts Avenue about three miles northwest of the White House.
The Navy declined to speak about the project apart from cost estimates. The Secret Service would say only that the new fence was consistent with the agency’s security protocol and was not the result of any explicit threat to Biden or his family.
“These enhancements are routine, they’re not in response to any specific incident or intelligence,” said Secret Service agent Edwin Donovan. “We continue to evaluate the measures that we require to provide a secure environment.”
The new security fence would replace the existing cable barrier that separates the vice president’s property from the rest of the Naval Observatory, and would prevent people on foot from gaining access to the vice president’s residence, according to the Navy’s planning documents.
The Naval Observatory is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the new security fence was designed to have “no adverse effects” on the property’s aesthetic, planning documents say.
The vice president’s official residence was established on the grounds of the Naval Observatory in 1974, after it was determined that the security costs of protecting him at his private home were too great. Walter Mondale was the first vice president to live on the grounds of the Naval Observatory.
