Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Tightens Security Amid Threats

JOINT BASE McGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NJ — Visitors to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst will have to pass a criminal background check and have a government-issued identification to get on the base, officials announced Saturday.

The base announced the change amid heightened security measures amid threats from Iran to retaliate in response to the U.S. drone strike early Friday near Baghdad's airport in Iraq that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Iran's top general.

Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, was responsible for the country's foreign campaigns, particularly interventions in the Middle East, the Washington Post reported.

The Trusted Traveler Program has been suspended until further notice, base officials said on the base's official Facebook page. The program allowed those who hold valid identification cards issued by the Department of Defense to bring visitors onto the base.

"Valid DoD ID card holders who wish to escort/sponsor a non-DoD ID card holder onto the installation in their immediate vehicle will be required to park and visit a Visitor Control Center or an installation gate during Visitor Control Center non-operating hours to acquire a visitor's pass," the statement said.

All who do not have Defense Department-issued IDs will be required to present a government form of identification and will be vetted through a criminal background check in order to receive a visitor's pass, officials said.

Anyone who does not have a valid form of identification, or who has a questionable criminal record will be refused access, the statement said.

The drone strike-killing of Soleimani followed days of tensions between the United States and Iran and led to a siege of Baghdad's U.S. Embassy by supporters of an Iranian-backed militia.

President Donald Trump said in a tweet Friday that Soleimani had "killed or badly wounded thousands of Americans over an extended period of time, and was plotting to kill many more . . . but got caught!"

World leaders have criticized the killing of Soleimani, saying it has escalated tensions at time when efforts should be focused on reducing them, the Associated Press reported.

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