New Visitor Access Requirements at Ft Myer?

[dasgeh]

Another question to add to the list:
Given the lack of clarity and public awareness of this drastic change, have they considered delaying the implementation until they can think through and communicate clearly all of its implications?

[Mikey]

@dasgeh 108271 wrote:

Another question to add to the list:
Given the lack of clarity and public awareness of this drastic change, have they considered delaying the implementation until they can think through and communicate clearly all of its implications?

Remember it is still a military installation. Clear communications with the public is not necessarily in line with upholding force protection and base security. Any positive contact you make should be nurtured. Access to base is a privilege not a right and given what has happened at Fort Hood and the Navy Yard, don’t expect unfettered or unescorted access to the base without appropriate clearance (FED or DOD badge) and a need to be there. The need supports the need of the Army, not the need of the individual.

[Raymo853]

@dasgeh 108271 wrote:

Another question to add to the list:
Given the lack of clarity and public awareness of this drastic change, have they considered delaying the implementation until they can think through and communicate clearly all of its implications?

Security and not convenience should be their primary focus. And I say this as someone who just starting using the base as a great time saver and bad route alternative.

[americancyclo]

@Mikey 108275 wrote:

Remember it is still a military installation. Clear communications with the public is not necessarily in line with upholding force protection and base security. Any positive contact you make should be nurtured. Access to base is a privilege not a right and given what has happened at Fort Hood and the Navy Yard, don’t expect unfettered or unescorted access to the base without appropriate clearance (FED or DOD badge) and a need to be there. The need supports the need of the Army, not the need of the individual.

Weren’t Fort Hood and the Navy Yard shootings both committed by people who had already been vetted and given a cleared badge?

I think a lot of folks don’t want/need to be on base, they just want to get to the other side safely.

EDIT: in this NBC4 article from April of 2014, only two of the 19 shootings listed in the past twenty years were committed by non-military folks.

[Alcova cyclist]

Henry – that would be great! I am happy to help/participate if needed.

This might also help to highlight for the county board what I think is a key problem area in the otherwise mostly awesome Arlington cycling infrastructure — getting from central Arlington to DC. The barriers posed by 395, the pentagon, and possibly now Ft. Myer essentially means anyone from central Arlington would need to go miles north or south or deal with riding in the lane along Columbia Pike, on the 2′ sidewalks along Rt 27, or the cobbled together bits of trail, sidewalk and parking lots along Rt 50.

[Mikey]

@americancyclo 108277 wrote:

Weren’t Fort Hood and the Navy Yard shootings both committed by people who had already been vetted and given a cleared badge?

I think a lot of folks don’t want/need to be on base, they just want to get to the other side safely.

Yes they were, but that’s not going to reduce access requirements, badged or otherwise. Getting to the other side safely is the responsibility of Arlington County, not the Army.

[Steve O]

@Mikey 108275 wrote:

Remember it is still a military installation. Clear communications with the public is not necessarily in line with upholding force protection and base security. Any positive contact you make should be nurtured. Access to base is a privilege not a right and given what has happened at Fort Hood and the Navy Yard, don’t expect unfettered or unescorted access to the base without appropriate clearance (FED or DOD badge) and a need to be there. The need supports the need of the Army, not the need of the individual.

If I’m not mistaken, the Department of Defense is owned by the people of the United States. We own the military bases; you and I. I feel that unless they can give a compelling reason that we owners may not travel safely through our own property, we should be allowed to do so. With reasonable safeguards in place, of course.

The word “reasonable” is probably where this conversation breaks down.

[Mikey]

@Steve O 108289 wrote:

If I’m not mistaken, the Department of Defense is owned by the people of the United States. We own the military bases; you and I. I feel that unless they can give a compelling reason that we owners may not travel safely through our own property, we should be allowed to do so. With reasonable safeguards in place, of course.

The word “reasonable” is probably where this conversation breaks down.

I’m not trying to fight you, I agree it would be great to have access for all, but being a taxpayer doesn’t grant you unlimited access to all federal property. Try that at the white house and see how far you make it. I’m just saying you are not going to make a compelling argument to the people who control the base, the best you can hope for is being a good neighbor, and hoping they see it the same way and wanting to be a good neighbor too, and opening up some limited access when it is in their best interest to do so.

[rcannon100]

Does this mean we can go biking through the halls of the White House again?

[ShawnoftheDread]

@americancyclo 108277 wrote:

Weren’t Fort Hood and the Navy Yard shootings both committed by people who had already been vetted and given a cleared badge?

I think a lot of folks don’t want/need to be on base, they just want to get to the other side safely.

EDIT: in this NBC4 article from April of 2014, only two of the 19 shootings listed in the past twenty years were committed by non-military folks.

And PA Ave was closed to car traffic because a small plane hit the White House. Security breaches in one area often lead to reassessments and changes in other areas.

[rcannon100]

Yup’uh. After Navy Yard, the security folk wanted to ban or restrict bicycle traffic in our ‘hood because…. well because when something bad happens, you have to do something. And picking on easy targets like cyclists remotely resembles doing something. Fortunately, we have friends in high places.

Remember, the best way to protect our liberties from our enemies is—- to remove all our liberties and therefore our enemies wont have any reason to hate us any more.

[dasgeh]

So much to say and so little time. But the big things:

– What is the job of the military? To protect us? How is suddenly putting a group of us in danger when there isn’t any need to do so in line with that job?

– Or put differently: closing the base next Monday, without the public warning and without some emergency need, is basically saying that the very remote possibility that there could be an attack on the base is more important than the very real possibility that a cyclist could be gravely injured/killed on Columbia Pike.

– Long term, it may well be that the answer is the base is closed to the public and Arlington installs better infrastructure around the base, but there’s no way that can be done in two weeks. From what I’ve learned, the Base released this information to the public and briefed the County Manager less than two weeks before the changes were slated to go into effect. They have had their own logistical problems instituting the change so quickly (e.g. haven’t been able to open the place to get the special access badge later than 3pm or on weekends, like they planned). They should DELAY and allow for a dialogue and give people time to adjust.

– Their public outreach on this has been really sub par. They are a public instillation and there is no emergency. They should be required to do real public outreach and allow people to plan their lives out accordingly.

BTW, I was told by Lt. Col. Molina that for now all CAC card holders – DoD, other fed, contractors – will be waived through as before. Commuting will be a valid reason for coming through and for getting an AIE. Getting an AIE will be easier if you have a “sponsor”. DoD can definitely be “sponsors” and it’s unclear whether other CAC card holders can be. You can only get an AIE M-F between 730am and 3pm, though that will expand to 7pm and to have some weekend hours once they hire more people, starting next week (after the policy is set to go into effect). The “vetting” process at Hatfield Gate takes 12 minutes a person, but they’re just going to randomly subject people to it. So you may be basically waived through, or you may be waiting 12+ minutes to be vetted if you go that way.

There is some system that is going to be upgraded in the future and things will change further.

[mstone]

@ShawnoftheDread 108294 wrote:

And PA Ave was closed to car traffic because a small plane hit the White House. Security breaches in one area often lead to reassessments and changes in other areas.

Or kneejerk reactions and security theater. One or the other.

[lordofthemark]

@dasgeh 108297 wrote:

the very real possibility that a cyclist could be gravely injured/killed on Columbia Pike.

Not to, you know, stir things up, but is there not a very prominent Arlington cycling advocate, who insists biking on the Pike is perfectly fine (and that one reason to kill the streetcar was cause it would make it harder to bike on the Pike?)

[dasgeh]

The other frustrating part of the timing of all of this: there is NO REASON it has to be done now. The order they cite is 5 years old. The shootings and breaches are also months ago. There is NO EMERGENCY. Why not wait at least a month? They clearly don’t have the logistics in place to deal with this.

And aside from screwing over cyclists, they may cause car traffic headaches in Arlington neighborhoods that they didn’t bother to talk to.

[Author]

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