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Here’s What’s Really Wrong With the White House Fence (and Your Own)

Some people just don’t know when to quit—like the dogged White House fence jumper, Marci Anderson Wahl.

On March 21, this 38-year-old from Everett, WA, attempted to scale the fence surrounding the White House but got tripped up, literally, by her shoelaces. Busted but undeterred, she tried again three days later (this time at 16th Street and H Street NW), then again on March 26 (on the southeast corner of the Treasury Building). Each time, she was caught, arrested, found to have no hazardous materials, and eventually released. Apparently she has an unquenchable desire to have a close encounter with the 45th president.

Whether she’ll go for jump No. 4 is anyone’s guess, but in the meantime, her antics have everyone wondering: Is the White House fence truly up to the task of keeping intruders out? Plus, what can the rest of us with homes and fences learn from all this?

Whether you’re building your own barrier or just want to know how safe our president really is, here are a few insights on the fence front.

Taller isn’t necessarily better

Currently the White House fence is 7 feet high, but plans were approved in July to make it higher.

“The overall height will be 13 feet, 1 inch including the stone base,” Matt Flis, a senior urban designer with the White House National Capital Planning Commission, said in a statement.

But tall can be a bad thing, too.

“While a stronger fence could be built, the view of the White House should not be restricted,” says construction engineer Lance Luke. “The property is a tourist attraction, and a ‘Great Wall of China’–type fence would actually be a problem, not only for aesthetics, but for security as well.”

The reason: The higher the fence, the more restricted the views are from the inside out, particularly if the fence—or parts of it like the base—are solid rather than see-through. This applies to regular homeowners, too.

Fence makers warn that tall, solid fences can make you a target for burglars scheming on the other side unseen.

Watch out for horizontal rails

But hey, at least the White House fence is made of metal, so people can see through it. That’s not only great for security, it also means that tourists can get a nice eyeful just by strolling along the sidewalk outside.

Still, though: This metal fence does feature a major security flaw in the form of a horizontal rail—which gives scalers a literal leg up and over.

“Horizontal rails make the fence more climbable,” says Luke.

Of course, most metal fences need at least one horizontal rail for stability, but the most secure fences will keep that to a minimum.

Think beyond just the fence

“When President Obama vacationed in Hawaii, his vacation house was surrounded by walls and fences,” Luke points out. “But the local police and Secret Service agents were inside the property, outside of the property, and at three separate checkpoints.”

In other words, home security shouldn’t begin and end with a fence. It should also include other measures such as alarms and cameras. Big, noisy dogs help, too.

Aesthetics also matter

So why not just line the top of the White House fence in barbed wire and be done with it? We all know the answer to that: Aesthetics matter, which is why the “spikes” on top of the White House fence are pointy but elegant, like the regal tips of spears or leaves.

“Like all residences in our country, sometimes security is compromised for aesthetics,” points out Washington, DC, real estate agent Rachel Valentino at Keller Williams. “The White House was and is meant to be the ‘people’s house,’ which means making it visible and not looking like a compound.”

Still, though, “In this case, the stakes are too high and threat level too great,” she argues. “The fence height should be raised, and security experts should be allowed to do their job with protection—and only protection—as the top priority.”

Moral of the story: With fences, there’s often a trade-off between how it looks and how good it is at keeping the bad guys out. So plan accordingly.

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