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Photography and Text by Pete Marovich

Slideshow Hosted by PhotoShelter

The U.S. Capitol, the core of the federal government's legislative branch, is visited by an estimated 3 to 5 million people each year.

But since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, visiting the “people’s houses” has become a little more inconvenient.

Inconvenient but very secure.

Unless a visitor has an appointment for official business, access to the Capitol is restricted to the visitor center and escorted tours. Capitol Police officers armed with assault weapons patrol the perimeter of the building.

Visitors enter the Capitol through a massive underground visitor center, which doubles as a screening facility. They are checked for explosives and weapons before being allow to enter into the historic portion of the building. The design of the visitor center was conceived after a gunman ran through security and shot two Capitol Police officers in 1998. Following the Sept. 11 attacks, the design was reassessed and construction began in 2002. The center opened in December 2008.

Tours cover only certain unrestricted areas of the Capitol. Visitors are not permitted to roam through the building unescorted unless they are members of Congress, staff members or members of the credentialed media. Capitol Police are stationed throughout the building to ensure tight security is maintained.

Visitors must obtain passes from the offices of their senators or representatives to enter the galleries and witness members of Congress at work in the U.S. House or Senate.

Visitors are not the only ones watched carefully. Members of the Senate and House leadership are under constant security detail, law-enforcement officers shadowing them everywhere and reporting their movements to a central monitoring center. The personal security is not as much for protection as it is for knowing the whereabouts of the key members in the event of an emergency.

While all of the security restrictions may be inconvenient for members of Congress and visitors to the Capitol, it is an accurate reflection of the times in which we live.

Pete Marovich is co-creator of American-Journal Magazine and serves as photo editor. Pete is also the Washington D.C. Bureau Chief for ZUMA Press covering the White House and Capitol Hill. [Full Bio Here]

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 14th, 2011 at 9:57 pm. It is filed under Current Issue. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.