The White House and Capitol were placed on lockdown Tuesday morning and fighter jets scrambled as an unauthorized aircraft entered restricted airspace in Washington D.C.
Secret Service agents issued a lockdown order citing a ‘shelter in place’ order.
Air traffic control had lost contact with the aircraft, said a U.S. Capitol Police source, who didn’t know what kind of plane raised government alerts.
CNBC reported that fighter jets were scrambled. Joint Base Andrews, the nearby Air Force facility that handles Air Force One traffic, did not have an immediate comment.
The emergency was lifted at 9.17 a.m., less than an hour after it began.
Get out: Construction workers who were working on upgrading the White House fence were told to leave the area as the White House was placed on lockdown
Shelter in place: An unauthorized aircraft in Washington D.C. airspace prompted the ‘lockdown’ of the White House and Capitol
Scrambled: F-16 jets like these are on constant alert at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland
A reporter for The Independent reported seeing movement at a missile launch site near the U.S. Capitol, where similar lockdown orders were issued.
Reporters in the press briefing room were told to remain indoors, and the door was locked from the outside.
Construction workers building a replacement fence on the north side of the presidential mansion were evacuated shortly after 8:30 a.m.
‘They said, ‘Everybody get out.’ Just like that,’ one hard-hatted worker told DailyMail.com.
‘It’s ‘shelter-in-place’,’ a uniformed agent patrolling on the west side said. Another confirmed that ‘there’s an emergency inside.’
‘We need you to shelter that way,’ he said, pointing across 17th street.
West Wing staffers with telltale blue badges were next to exit in smaller, straggling numbers. Two of them shrugged their shoulders at a question about what caused the evacuation.
‘Don’t know,’ one woman said. ‘They don’t tell us. They just said to go.’
‘They said, ‘Everybody get out.’ Just like that,’ one hard-hatted worker told DailyMail.com.
‘It’s ‘shelter-in-place’,’ a uniformed agent patrolling on the west side said. Another confirmed that ‘there’s an emergency inside.’
‘We need you to shelter that way,’ he said, pointing across 17th street.
West Wing staffers with telltale blue badges were next to exit in smaller, straggling numbers. Two of them shrugged their shoulders at a question about what caused the evacuation.
‘Don’t know,’ one woman said. ‘They don’t tell us. They just said to go.’
