President Donald Trump’s administration is swinging the wrecking ball again, this time aiming at a batch of historic buildings in Washington, D.C., under the banner of national security.
The Department of Homeland Security, led by Secretary Kristi Noem, is pressing for the demolition of 13 aging structures on the DHS campus at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, following Trump’s controversial teardown of the White House’s East Wing without historical oversight, while preservationists cry foul over what they call federal neglect and a fabricated emergency, as the Daily Mail reports.
First, let’s rewind to the East Wing fiasco, where Trump’s team bulldozed a piece of presidential history, claiming security risks, while the Justice Department argued in court that pausing ballroom construction would be a danger.
Now, Noem’s memo to the General Services Administration, as reported by the Washington Post, targets 13 buildings not originally on the chopping block at the St. Elizabeths west campus, a site tied to mental health care since 1855.
These structures, including the Burroughs Cottage from 1881 and the Allison buildings for disabled veterans from 1899, sit vacant, which Noem insists creates a “present risk to life and property.”
A DHS report warns these empty shells could be exploited by unauthorized intruders for small arms or active shooter scenarios. That's serious stuff, if true, but couldn’t better fencing solve this without erasing history?
Other targeted buildings include the Linden and Holly wards from 1893, the East Lodge for African-American patients, and even the campus creamery and greenhouses, all steeped in the story of St. Elizabeth's, once a backdrop for A Few Good Men.
A map leaked to the Daily Mail reveals 17 total structures eyed for demolition, though four already got the green light from oversight bodies like the National Capital Planning Commission.
Still, preservation groups like the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the D.C. Preservation League are pushing back hard, arguing there’s no crisis behind the double security perimeter that justifies this rush.
“If these buildings are considered such a security threat, DHS should first reevaluate the location of its perimeter security fence, as suggested in early consultation meetings,” said Elizabeth Merritt of the National Trust and Rebecca Miller of the D.C. Preservation League.
That’s a fair jab—why not secure the area properly instead of playing whack-a-mole with history? If the feds let these buildings rot, isn’t the real emergency their own inaction?
“DHS security and safety assessments have determined that these dilapidated, vacant buildings on the DHS campus pose unacceptable safety, security, and emergency-response risks,” countered DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.
McLaughlin’s insistence on demolition as the “only permanent corrective action” sounds like a sledgehammer approach when a screwdriver might do. Security matters, no question, but surely there’s a middle ground before we lose more of our capital’s heritage.
Preservationists point out that the District of Columbia State Historic Preservation Office and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation had until Wednesday to step in, yet as of Tuesday afternoon, neither had acted.
With no demolition timeline disclosed by DHS, the clock is ticking for these groups to save structures like the staff house and residence, while critics of progressive overreach in preservation might argue safety trumps sentimentality—but at what cost to our shared past?
