Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois is demanding the Pentagon and Federal Aviation Administration reject President Trump’s call to convert plans for a massive triumphal arch into a “top grade Military Complex” equipped with snipers and with the capability to store, launch and land drones while in the flight path of Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport.
“The FAA and DoD must reject this foolhardy plan and instead focus on increasing the safety of the airspace,” Duckworth, who lost both legs while serving in the Iraq War, wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford.
The FAA determined last week that the 250-foot arch, which is being constructed near Arlington National Cemetery, poses no hazard to flights coming into and departing from Reagan Airport.
The letter was exclusively obtained by CBS News. She called Mr. Trump’s announcement, made in a Truth Social post over the weekend, “bizarre, unhinged early morning social media rants.”
In the letter sent Friday, Duckworth, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation, took Trump administration officials to task for “wasting time, energy and taxpayer dollars on yet another Trump vanity project.”
She called it “particularly outrageous” after what she described as the “joint failure” of the FAA and Defense Department “to effectively implement corrective actions that were recommended” by the NTSB following the January 2025 midair collision near Reagan Airport that killed 67 people.
The NTSB made 52 safety recommendations following the collision between a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet that was landing at Reagan Airport.
Thirty-five recommendations were directed to the FAA, only three of which have been closed. The NTSB said earlier this month the FAA’s responses to 11 of the recommendations were unacceptable. All 13 recommendations directed at the Pentagon remain open.
“It is disturbing to see Federal officials devote enormous attention to an unnecessary, proposed structure while the NTSB and the public are still demanding action on recommendations intended to prevent another catastrophic collision in our skies,” Duckworth wrote. “The American people cannot afford to stand witness to Trump’s risky plan to place a 250-foot structure along a busy approach path, especially if he follows through on plans to station snipers on the arch and fly drones … in the already congested airspace.”
While calling the FAA’s review of the proposed arch “incomplete,” Duckworth, a former Army helicopter pilot, is demanding answers to a host of questions, including if the FAA considered the use of the arch as a military complex during its safety assessment.
She is also calling for Hegseth to disclose “which military entity, if any, requested that the arch be converted into a ‘Military Complex,’ and what threat assessment supports that request?”
She requested answers by Oct. 5.
In a statement earlier this week, Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia wrote that “putting a drone launching site directly in the landing path for DCA is a stupid, dangerous, and unworkable idea.”
The FAA and Defense Department declined to comment on the arch, referring inquiries to the White House.
