Donald Trump's proposed triumphal arch has acquired a military specialty. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the monument can help protect Washington against drones. The arch has not been built, but its résumé is already benefiting from the administration's hiring practices.

In court declarations filed Wednesday, Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin supplied a national-security case for the project. Law&Crime reports that Hegseth cited its height and location as advantages for counter-drone sensors and personnel. Mullin said security features would be integrated into the existing design.

Existing design is doing lovely work there. The ornament doesn't need to change; the explanation does. You wanted an imposing monument. Congratulations, you have identified a defense capability with room for an imposing monument around it.

That doesn't prove an arch couldn't carry useful equipment. Buildings carry equipment all the time. It does leave a question larger than the opening in the middle: why does this particular monumental structure deserve to become urgent national-security infrastructure?

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The administration says those benefits outweigh the challengers' aesthetic interests. The challengers, three Vietnam veterans and an architectural historian, say the government hasn't obtained the congressional authorization it needs. They object to disruption of the landscape near Arlington National Cemetery. Other veterans' organizations support the project. Nobody gets to requisition all veterans for their side of an architectural argument.

The government's cited legal authority reaches back to a 1925 law for the Arlington Memorial Bridge. The plaintiffs argue that a completed bridge project is not a century-long permission slip for whatever the executive branch would next enjoy building. It is an ambitious theory of leftover authorization. Most of us lose the right to use a coupon after thirty days.

Judge Tanya Chutkan has a hearing scheduled for Friday. The legal dispute remains unresolved. Hegseth, despite his written enthusiasm, is unavailable to testify, according to the Justice Department.

The arch can perform two jobs at once. The secretary cannot make the meeting.