The White House fence is about to get quite a bit taller.
The U.S. Secret Service, in partnership with the National Park Service, is supporting a new plan to raise the height of the security fence around the president’s residence by five feet and add a concrete foundation, according to a new report.
“[The fence] is entirely scale-able, depending upon the circumstances. And we have now a society that tends to want to jump over the fence and onto the 18 acres,” Secret Service official Tom Dougherty told federal officials in a Wednesday meeting. “The current fence simply is not adequate for a modern era. We’ve said that before. It is becoming more and more acutely clear that that is in fact the case.”
Under the proposal, the fence would rise from 6-feet-11 to nearly 12 feet tall and would be completed by 2018. The renovations also would include “anti-climb features,” including small spikes to deter jumpers from crossing the top of the structure.
The plan is expected to be discussed before the National Capital Planning Commission on May 5, which must sign off on any changes to White House fencing. Congressional leaders were made aware about the potential changes in a meeting earlier this month.
