Secret Service Seeks Sword Removal From White House Perimeter Statues
The proposed modifications illustrate how physical security priorities can intersect with federal historic preservation review processes, placing two institutional mandates in direct tension.
Secret Service officials told members of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts on Tuesday that removing swords from statues near the White House perimeter is among the security modifications under active consideration, according to reporting by the Washington Examiner based on the agency's public remarks at that meeting. The disclosure came during a scheduled session of the Commission, a federal advisory body whose statutory mandate, codified in 40 U.S.C. § 9101, is to provide expert guidance to the federal government on matters of design and aesthetics affecting public buildings and spaces in the Washington, D.C. area.
Secure Service representatives also outlined plans to replace temporary fencing structures currently in use around the White House with permanent access control infrastructure, according to the same Washington Examiner account of the Tuesday meeting. The specific statues referenced, the precise design of proposed permanent fencing, and the projected cost of the modifications were not detailed in the publicly available record of the meeting as of the time of publication.
The Commission of Fine Arts, whose membership is appointed by the President, currently includes individuals appointed by President Donald Trump. The Washington Examiner reported that Trump had appointed political loyalists to the Commission. The legal basis and timeline of those appointments would be reflected in the Commission's publicly posted membership records, available at cfa.gov. The Commission's role in this instance is advisory; final decisions on security infrastructure rest with the Secret Service and, for matters involving appropriated funds, with Congress.
The intersection of security planning and aesthetic review is not new to the White House perimeter. A previous round of permanent perimeter fencing upgrades, approved and funded through congressional appropriations during the Biden administration following the January 6, 2021 security review, was documented in Department of Homeland Security budget justification materials submitted to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. Whether the current modifications proposed by the Secret Service require new congressional appropriations, reprogramming of existing funds, or fall within existing DHS discretionary authority is not established in the available public record.
Several material facts remain unknown. The full cost estimate for the proposed permanent access control measures has not been disclosed in any public filing reviewed for this report. The specific statues whose swords the Secret Service proposes to alter have not been publicly identified by agency officials. The Commission of Fine Arts' formal advisory response to the Secret Service's proposals, if one has been issued, was not available in reviewed public records as of publication. The DHS congressional budget justification for Fiscal Year 2026 and any Secret Service reprogramming notifications submitted to the House and Senate Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittees would be the documents most likely to contain cost and funding details.