United States. The U.S. Secret Service will build a new 13-foot fence to surround the White House, nearly doubling the height of the current fence to help keep intruders out.
The $64 million project will focus on the fence around the White House and its immediate surroundings. The existing fence is about 6 feet 6 inches tall.
The project will encompass the 18-acre White House complex and involves more than 3,500 feet of steel fencing. The current 6-foot-6-inch-tall fence will be replaced by a fence about 13 feet tall with wider and stronger fence posts. The new fence incorporates intrusion detection and anti-ascent technology and is designed to mitigate current and future security threats.
Officials concluded that a higher fence was needed after a series of White House security breaches, including in September 2014, when a Texas man carrying a knife climbed the fence.
Improvements are also scheduled for fencing throughout the Treasury Department and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, located on both sides of the White House.
