McHale, a Bethlehem native, is a retired Marine Reserve colonel and former assistant secretary of defense for homeland security.
As a retired Marine Reserve colonel and homeland security leader, Paul McHale is familiar with the Washington Navy Yard.
McHale, a Bethlehem native and former Lehigh Valley congressman, said an armed assault on the heavily guarded facility would be highly unlikely.
“It would be difficult for someone other than a government employee to enter the facility,” said McHale, the former assistant secretary of defense for homeland security who now lives in North Carolina. “It’s one of the more heavily guarded facilities in Washington, D.C. Access is heavily restricted.
“It would be easier for someone carrying a military ID with appropriate credentials to enter and then engage a shooting spree than it would be for someone without credentials to fight his way in.”
View full sizeFormer U.S. Rep. Paul McHale. As many as two gunmen opened fire this morning inside the Washington Navy Yard, killing at least 12 people in an attack on office workers.
One gunman was dead, and police hunted for a second possible attacker who may have been disguised in a military-style uniform, police said.
Investigators said they had not established a motive for the shooting rampage, which unfolded less than four miles from the White House and two blocks from the oldest post in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Washington, D.C.’s mayor said there was no indication the assaults were linked to terrorism.
McHale, who had no direct information on today’s developments, said on any given day there would be a heavy military presence in the area.
“It’s an area of very high protection,” he said. “It’s one of the more historic bases in the history of the U.S. military. It would be a facility that would be difficult to penetrate with physical force.”
The base is home to many high-ranking Navy officers and headquarters of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.