Iran has made threats against military post

Iran has made threats against Fort McNair, an Army post in the US capital, and against the Army’s deputy chief of staff, two senior US intelligence officials said.

They indicated that communications intercepted by the National Security Agency (NSA) in January showed that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard spoke about the possibility of mounting USS Cole-style attacks on the post, in reference to the suicide attack. October 2000 in which a small boat stopped next to the Navy destroyer in Yemen, in the port of Aden, and exploded, killing 17 sailors.

The intelligence data also revealed threats to kill General Joseph M. Martin and plans to infiltrate and monitor the facilities, according to the officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly on national security matters and testified on condition of anonymity. The military post, one of the oldest in the country, is Martin’s official residence.

The threats are one reason the Army has been pushing for security to be tightened at Fort McNair, which is adjacent to Washington’s bustling, newly developed Waterfront district.

City officials have rejected the Army’s plan to add a buffer zone between 75 and 150 meters (250 and 500 feet) from the shore of the Washington Canal, which would limit access to half the width of the busy parallel waterway. to the Potomac River.

The Pentagon, the National Security Council and the NSA did not respond or declined to comment on the matter when contacted by The Associated Press.

District of Columbia authorities have sought to tighten security along the canal, but the Army has provided only vague information about threats to the post.

In a virtual meeting in January to examine the proposed restrictions, Army Maj. Gen. Omar Jones, commander of the Washington Military District, cited credible and specific threats against military leaders living at the facilities. The only specific security threat he offered was on a swimmer who arrived at the post and was arrested.

Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district’s only representative in Congress, was skeptical.

When it comes to swimmers, I’m sure that must be weird. Did he know where he was? Maybe he was just swimming and hitting your beach? “He asked.

Jones admitted that the swimmer was not a great example there, but he was our most recent example of a safety violation.

Meanwhile, puzzled city officials and frustrated residents said the Army’s request for the buffer zone was a government overreach of public waterways.

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LaPorta reported from Boca Raton, Florida. The Associated Press journalist Jon Gambrell in Dubai contributed to this report.

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