Alexandria officials have hounded the Defense Department over traffic issues at the Mark Center, the Pentagon’s new office space along Seminary Road, but now authorities are also concerned about the safety of the area inside and around the building. Anti-terrorism experts worry that a lack of security at the Mark Center, at the busy intersection of Interstate 395 and Seminary Road in Alexandria, could make the office susceptible to something similar to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
More than 2,000 defense workers have already been transferred to the Mark Center, with an additional 4,400 on the way next year.
A security report, recently leaked to Time magazine, expanded on an April report by the Army Corps of Engineers, which found that the two towering buildings at the Mark Center couldn’t withstand a blast from 220 pounds of explosives. That’s a small fraction of the 5,000 pounds of explosives packed into the truck used to level the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma, killing 168 people.
In a letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille said he was disturbed by the report and frustrated by the Defense Department’s lack of honesty when it came to the Mark Center’s security. – Ben Giles
