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White House expected to add steel spikes to fence

by Ben Kamisar - 04/15/15 6:59 PM ET

The White House is expected to add half-inch steel spikes to its perimeter fence as a protective measure against potential jumpers, NBC Washington reports.

The report says the spikes would be attached to the existing fence for at least a year, before a permanent fence is built.

{mosads}The National Park Service is looking into that proposal, along with a permanent fix to either raise the height to 10 feet or to add a second interior fence, according to NBC, but the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission must approve the final decisions.

“I want to see those spikes to make sure they don’t look so foreboding that people who visit the White House will figure they shouldn’t be there,” Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) told NBC.

Holmes Norton has repeatedly called for the fence to be raised and modified in the wake of a number of recent fence-jumpers. In the most serious case, one intruder, armed with a knife, made it inside the White House and into the East Room before an agent caught him.

The NBC documents also show the agencies debated other options, including a solid wall, a moat or an electric fence. All of those were rejected.

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