Norton Opens Cherry Blossom Season with Bill to Ensure Openness and Public Access to Federal Buildings and Areas

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the five-week cherry blossom festival begins, bringing thousands of people to Washington to open the spring season, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced the United States Commission on an Open Society with Security Act. The Congresswoman's bill addresses the need for balance by establishing a commission of experts from a broad spectrum of disciplines to investigate how to maintain democratic traditions of openness and access while responding adequately to the substantial security threats posed by terrorism. The bill authorizes a 21-member commission, with the president designating nine members and the House and Senate each designating six members, to investigate the balance of openness and security. Members of the commission must come from varying fields and groups, among them: security, architecture, technology, sociology, psychology, the military, city planning, business, engineering, and history. Norton began working on the United States Commission on an Open Society with Security Act after Pennsylvania Avenue was closed and ugly barriers first began to emerge in the District of Columbia following the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.

"Tax-paying citizens are still unable to enter some federal buildings to use restrooms or restaurant facilities, including buildings like the Department of Transportation headquarters, an unlikely target for terrorism," Norton said. "Security in and around federal buildings and areas is neither uniform nor professionally tailored to the agency's mission. The need for a commission committed to both openness and security has grown more urgent with the proliferation of increasing varieties of security measures imposed by security officials with no congressional oversight and no input from experts or others to ensure that access and openness match risk."

Norton began working on the complexities of openness and security when the first signs of denial of public access appeared after the Oklahoma City bombing, well before 9/11. She said the urgency has grown greater with increasing varieties of security throughout the country, particularly in the nation's capital, which has the most federal facilities. The commission's work would become a model for states and cities as well.

To cite a recent example, in January of this year, Norton met with stakeholders about the transfer of Union Square, the area immediately beneath the west Capitol grounds, from the National Park Service (NPS) to the Architect of the Capitol. Since then, the Capitol Police Board has agreed to maintain existing NPS policies and practices allowing commercial photography and filming at Union Square. This area, however, is the only site around the Capitol that currently allows commercial filming and photography, and Norton has asked that the Board use the transfer as an opportunity to engage in a thorough review that could allow permits for commercial photography and filmmaking at a number of other areas near the Capitol complex. She said that this most recent example demonstrates the need for a commission with fresh eyes and a balanced approach to ensure the preservation of an open, democratic society.

Published: March 28, 2012