--- title: White House to Add Spikes to Fence to Prevent Jumping Incidents description: A new layer of spikes will be added to deter climbers and intruders starting Friday. canonical: https://time.com/3851296/white-house-security-border-fence/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-08T02:10:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T07:02:28.367Z article:section: Politics og:title: The White House Really Doesn't Want You Jumping Over Its Fence og:description: A new layer of spikes will be added to deter climbers and intruders og:url: https://time.com/3851296/white-house-security-border-fence/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e1992134ee1489d/6987eee0428a9e0e25ccb4da/white-house-fence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4398 og:image:height: 2474 og:image:alt: A tall security fence stands in front of the White House on Nov. 4, 2014 in Washington. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The White House Really Doesn't Want You Jumping Over Its Fence twitter:description: A new layer of spikes will be added to deter climbers and intruders twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e1992134ee1489d/6987eee0428a9e0e25ccb4da/white-house-fence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The White House Really Doesn't Want You Jumping Over Its Fence > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 8, 2015 2:10 AM UTC  A tall security fence stands in front of the White House on Nov. 4, 2014 in Washington. A tall security fence stands in front of the White House on Nov. 4, 2014 in Washington. Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 8, 2015 2:10 AM UTC A second layer of spikes will be added to the top of the fence surrounding the White House starting Friday, officials with the National Park Service and Secret Service [said](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/us-add-layer-steel-spikes-white-house-fence-30873408), in a temporary bid to deter future would-be climbers after several incidents in the past year. A [proposal](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ncpc%5Fupdated%5Fon%5Fpresidents%5Fpark%5Fsouth%5Fproject%5Fand%5Fkennedy%5Fcenter%5Fexpansion%5Fplans%5Fmay2015.pdf) that was submitted to the National Capital Planing Commission and approved Thursday states that “pencil point” spikes will be affixed to the current fence along the complex’s north and south sides and jut out, according to the Associated Press. Additional long-term solutions will continue to be reviewed. The changes to White House security were presented as a result of two incidents where intruders got across the fence, namely one [last September](http://time.com/3406553/white-house-fence-jumper-evacuation/) when a fence-jumper was able to hop over the barrier and run well into the White House before being subdued, prompting an evacuation and highlighting internal issues within the Secret Service. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3851296/white-house-security-border-fence/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3851296/white-house-security-border-fence/"},"headline":"The White House Really Doesn't Want You Jumping Over Its Fence","datePublished":"2015-05-08T02:10:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:02:28.367Z","description":"A new layer of spikes will be added to deter climbers and intruders","url":"https://time.com/3851296/white-house-security-border-fence/","keywords":["White House","Secret Service","national park service"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e1992134ee1489d/6987eee0428a9e0e25ccb4da/white-house-fence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5e1992134ee1489d/6987eee0428a9e0e25ccb4da/white-house-fence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A tall security fence stands in front of the White House on Nov. 4, 2014 in Washington.","caption":"A tall security fence stands in front of the White House on Nov. 4, 2014 in Washington.","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3851296/white-house-security-border-fence/","name":"The White House Really Doesn't Want You Jumping Over Its Fence"}}]}] ```