:quality(85)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/F2SQT2G5T5CMFAYBYXK3I5I4IY.jpg "The US warned that the Iranian regime threatened to attack Fort McNair in Washington DC")
Intelligence data also revealed threats to kill General Joseph M. Martin and plans to infiltrate and monitor facilities in the US capital.
Iran’s regime 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 Iran’s Revolutionary Guard spoke about the possibility of mounting “USS Cole-style attacks” against the post, referring to the An October 2000 suicide attack in which a small boat stopped alongside the Yemeni Navy destroyer 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.
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 Major General Omar Jones, commander of the Washington Military District, cited “credible and specific” threats against military leaders living in 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.
Bewildered city officials and frustrated residents, meanwhile, said the Army’s request for the buffer zone was a government overreach of public waterways.