At a time when people have less faith in their government’s connection to them, and the ongoing civilian-military relationship is showing strains, there are few things that would make the situation worse than this proposal.

…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.

Why?

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.
First, the practical concerns. Never put an army guy in charge of maritime security.

Yes, it reads like bad Tom Clancy novel.

A center console fishing boat, of which there are hundreds to thousands within striking distance of Washington DC, can easily do 30 knots. A 30-knot boat can cover 250-500 feet in 5-10 seconds. You cannot stop that. You cannot delay that. You cannot prevent such an assault from the water unless you erect some monstrosity of a physical barrier.

Just a few hundred yards up the Washington Channel is a civilian marina full of such boats and larger, and we want to make a maritime exclusion zone out of half the channel?

Really? Just look at it.

Second, the atmospherics.

Is this the action of a secure, sane, and confident nation?

Washington DC is the capital city of a great representative republic – it is not, nor should it – look like a capital under siege.

If any nation attempted such an attack, it would be an act of war. They know it, we know it. If they are willing to do that, some flimsy eyesore in the middle of a Potomac sidewater is not going to stop them.

No.

Just plain no.

If my nation is cool with me driving from ISAF HQ to Kabul airport and back on a regular basis in a SUV, then a few General and Flag Officers should be comfortable living in multi-million-dollar homes with waterfront views in DC within a jogging distance commute to their jobs.

If you do not feel safe living in those houses, then do not make that choice. There are plenty of gated, non waterfront homes in DC. Live there. I am sure there are a whole host of other officers in the DC are willing to take the risk living there for you.