As of Jan. 16, entry into the Pennsylvania National Guard base at Fort Indiantown Gap will be a little more secure when a previously announced policy goes into effect.
According to a notice posted to social media on Wednesday by a National Guard spokesman, everyone entering the base through the main Access Control Point, located on Fisher Avenue near Biddle Drive, will be required to present a compliant identification card.
Compliant IDs, according to the notice, include a Department of Defense Common Access Card (CAC) or a valid state- or federally issued ID that has previously been entered into the ACP’s scanning system.
Anyone who doesn’t have a compliant ID must go into the visitors center for entry to the base, where a staff member will scan the bar code on the ID to check the identity and background of the person seeking admission.
“Once the visitor is cleared, the visitor center will issue a pass for the individual who will present the pass when they pass through the gate,” the notice explained.
Also on Jan. 16, the notice said, a temporary Access Control Point will open for employees only on Quartermaster Road near Shuey Lake on the east end of the installation. Everyone using that entrance must have a compliant ID.
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Non-employees will be admitted only through the main Access Control Point, which is open 24/7. The temporary east ACP is open only to employees on Mondays through Fridays from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. being for outbound traffic only. The temporary east ACP will also not be open on federal holidays.
“It has always been part of the plan to require everyone passing through the ACP to have a compliant ID, so this is not new,” Bradley Rhen, deputy state public affairs officer for the Pennsylvania National Guard at Fort Indiantown Gap, told LebTown.
“This will help ensure the security and safety of Fort Indiantown Gap, its employees and those conducting training here. Requiring compliant IDs will also bring Fort Indiantown Gap in line with nearly every other U.S. military installation.”
The eastern Access Control Point has been added to the project “primarily for the convenience of employees who live closer to that end of the installation,” Rhen explained.
“Construction on the permanent east ACP is projected to begin later this year and is expected to take about a year to complete,” he said.
Editor’s note: This article was updated after publication to correct details about ACP hours. The main ACP is open 24/7. Separately, it was updated after publication to note that the Gap has changed the effective date of the new policy to Jan. 16, as Jan. 15 is a federal holiday.
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