The White House is installing a fence with spikes to keep intruders out

(Image credit: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

published 1 July 2015

Although the technical term isn't "spikes" — it's actually a "removable anti-climb feature" — for all intents and purposes the latest security measure at the White House involves barbing an iron fence.

The measures are perhaps overdue: In September, a man carrying a knife scaled the fence, ran across the North Lawn, and entered the White House before being tackled by a Secret Service officer. Last April, in a similar incident, an individual jumped over the White House fenc e and was also taken into custody by the Secret Service.

As a result, over approximately the next six weeks, The New York Times reports that the U.S. Secret Service and National Park Service will be attempting to thwart potential fence-climbers with scary metal "pencil points." The spikes will be bolted to the top of the fence around the White House, facing outward. And — because apparently spikes need to be designed — the job of creating the barbs went to the Rock Island Arsenal Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center. One can only imagine how that design meeting went: "Let's make them pointy!"

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.