Military bases throughout North America will resume a program that makes it easier for Defense Department personnel to bring visitors onto base, one week after it was suspended amid heightened security concerns from public attacks on New Year’s Day.
Capt. Mayrem Morales, a U.S. Northern Command spokesperson, told Military.com in an emailed statement Friday afternoon that the Trusted Traveler Program — which allowed those with Common Access Cards or Defense Biometric Identification System cards to escort people onto base — was reinstated following last week’s order.
“U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) has returned the use of [the] Trusted Traveler Program subject to installation commanders’ local policy,” Morales said. “This follows recent increased force protection measures directed by USNORTHCOM in response to attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas.”
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One main benefit of the Trusted Traveler Program is making waiting lines move more efficiently at base gates. When the initiative was stopped last week, meaning visitors needed to secure base passes and there were 100% identification checks, service members posted photos on social media of long lines to enter installations.
The security measures came after Shamsud-Din Jabbar, an Army veteran, killed 14 people in New Orleans when he drove his rented truck down Bourbon Street in the city’s French Quarter, and was killed by police shortly after the New Year’s Day attack.
That same day, Master Sgt. Matthew Livelsberger, an Army Green Beret, drove a rented Tesla Cybertruck in front of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he detonated an explosive and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound prior to the blast.
It was not clear how the Trusted Traveler Program would have stopped those attacks, since both men would have had access to bases.
“These measures, which cover installations, facilities and units within the USNORTHCOM Area of Responsibility — including the continental United States and Alaska — were implemented as a precautionary step to ensure the safety and security of personnel and installations,” Morales added in the emailed statement.
There has been at least one public security situation during the week that the Trusted Traveler Program was shut down.
On Thursday, Patrick Space Force Base in Florida closed its East Gate amid an “ongoing investigation” starting around 2 p.m. local time, a Facebook post from the installation detailed.
“For everyone’s safety and security, the area has been closed to ensure the investigation proceeds without interruption,” Emre Kelly, a Space Launch Delta 45 spokesperson, told Military.com in an emailed statement.
By 8 p.m. local time, the gate and State Road A1A were reopened, but there was no explanation as to the cause or details of the incident provided by Patrick Space Force Base or the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.
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