Iran reportedly threatens D.C. base, Army general
Iran has made threats against Fort McNair, an Army post in the U.S. capital, and against the Army’s vice chief of staff, two senior U.S. intelligence officials said.
They said communications intercepted by the National Security Agency in January showed that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard discussed mounting “USS Cole-style attacks” against the Army post, referring to the October 2000 suicide attack in which a small boat pulled up alongside the Navy destroyer in the Yemeni port of Aden and exploded, killing 17 sailors.
The intelligence also revealed threats to kill Gen. Joseph M. Martin and plans to infiltrate and survey the installation, according to the officials, who were not authorized to publicly discuss national security matters and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The threats are one reason the Army has been pushing for more security around Fort McNair, which sits alongside Washington’s bustling newly developed Waterfront District.
City leaders have been fighting the Army’s plan to add a buffer zone of about 250 feet to 500 feet from the shore of the Washington Channel, which would limit access to as much as half the width of the busy waterway running parallel to the Potomac River.
The Pentagon, National Security Council and NSA either did not reply or declined to comment when contacted.
As District of Columbia officials have fought the enhanced security along the channel, the Army has offered only vague information about threats to the installation.
At a virtual meeting in January to discuss the proposed restrictions, Army Maj. Gen. Omar Jones, commander of the Military District of Washington, cited “credible and specific” threats against military leaders who live on the Army post.
Discussions about the Fort McNair proposal began two years ago, but the recent intelligence gathered by the NSA has prompted Army officials to renew their request for the restrictions.
The intercepted chatter was among members of the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and centered on potential military options to avenge the U.S. killing of the former Quds leader, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in Baghdad in January 2020, the two intelligence officials said.
They said Tehran’s military commanders are unsatisfied with their counterattacks so far, specifically the results of the ballistic missile attack on Ain alAsad airbase in Iraq in the days after Soleimani’s killing.
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C’s sole representative in Congress, told The Associated Press that in the two months since the January meeting, the Pentagon has not provided her any additional information that would justify the restrictions around Fort McNair.
“I have asked the Department of Defense to withdraw the rule because I’ve seen no evidence of a credible threat that would support the proposed restriction,” Norton said.
She added: “I have a security clearance. And they have yet to show me any classified evidence” that would justify the proposal.
The proposed changes, outlined in a Federal Register notice, would prohibit both people and watercraft from “anchoring, mooring or loitering” within the restricted area without permission.
The Washington Channel is the site of one of the city’s major urban renewal efforts. The waterway flows from the point where the city’s two major rivers, the Potomac and Anacostia, meet.
It’s home to three marinas and hundreds of boat slips. About 300 people live aboard their boats in the channel, according to Patrick Revord, who is the director of technology, marketing and community engagement for the Wharf Community Association.
The channel also bustles with water taxis, which serve 300,000 people each year, river cruises that host 400,000 people a year and about 7,000 kayakers and paddleboarders annually, Revord said during the meeting.
Residents and city officials say the restrictions would create unsafe conditions by narrowing the channel for larger vessels traversing the waterway alongside smaller motorboats and kayakers.
It’s unclear whether the new intelligence will change the city’s opposition to the Army’s security plan. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday. Iranian state media did not immediately acknowledge the AP report.