Army Pauses Proposed DC Channel Security Zone

A controversial Army plan to restrict access to the Washington Channel near Fort McNair is off—at least for now.

The Army had proposed a buoyed-off security zone within about a hundred meters of Ft. McNair without prior approval, banning “loitering, mooring, or anchoring.”

When Bay Bulletin covered the issue General Omar Jones from Joint Force Headquarters-National Capital Region said, “There have been both credible and specific threats to the leaders that live here on Ft. McNair and the side of the base along the Washington channel is where we’re most vulnerable.” 

But D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton fought the proposed rule, saying it narrows an already-narrow portion of the channel. She hosted a public meeting last year, at which she says D.C. residents overwhelmingly opposed the restrictions.

The Potomac Riverkeeper Network was concerned that the definition of “loitering” in the channel would outlaw anglers out fishing. But…