The Washington Post reported that authorities across the Washington area are working to enhance security at military bases, the Arlington Cemetery, and sites along the National Park in the heart of the capital after Iran's threats to retaliate against the United States for the killing of Major General Qassim Soleimani.
In some cases, entry gates to military installations have been closed, and officials are implementing more security measures by checking identities. A spokesman for Park Police said that the officers will increase their presence due to tensions with Iran in order to increase caution.
But the start of the implementation of the security reinforcement - as the newspaper pointed out - was not smooth in every case, causing some to face a chaotic return to work at the beginning of the new year. The Naval Command, which runs Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Bethesda, has modified some new precautions and posted a slight apology on its Facebook page Monday evening after the security changes caused a terrible traffic chaos in the area that morning.
The newspaper stated that the security reinforcement in the military bases in the region is in line with the directives of the North American command that oversees the installations to impose "additional measures to protect the conditions of the forces to increase security and awareness of all facilities."
Walter Reed Base, Andrews Joint Base in Maryland, Anna Costia Bowling Base in the capital, Arlington National Cemetery, Mir Henderson Hall Joint Base, and Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, have released public updates on security measures this week.
On the other hand, Andrews' base - which includes the first presidential plane - on its website has defined new procedures, starting from Tuesday, for visitors traveling with a person with the Ministry of Defense identity to undergo background checks before entering the site.
Arlington National Cemetery has begun checking the identity of each visitor, and a website spokeswoman said there was a more visible law enforcement presence but the visits were not affected.