DNC to Build a Wall for Security During National Convention in Philadelphia

The Secret Service special agent in charge of security during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia next month said there will be a security perimeter around the Wells Fargo Complex that will extend higher than five feet.

The DNC’s annual event will include “no-scale fencing,” Special Agent James Henry told NBC10.com.

Henry noted that the specifics about the “perimeter” have not yet been finalized.

This year’s Democratic National Convention will take place July 25-28 in Philadelphia, marking the second time in less than a year that the City of Brotherly Love has hosted a high profile event necessitating a National Special Security Event (NSSE) designation from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Last year, Pope Francis visited Philadelphia in a historic visit that also triggered an NSSE designation for its potential as a target of terrorism, mass protest, or criminal activity.

Henry downplayed the possible security risks that the DNC might produce.

“This is not the papal visit. This is much smaller in scope and much smaller in scale,” he said. “So the security footprint is going to be much smaller. The impacts are really minimal. We’re fortunate the sports complex is more isolated, certainly than the papal visit in Center City.”

However, disenchanted Bernie Sanders supporters have spent months publicly planning events with the expressed purpose of clashing with law enforcement and staging a violent disruption at the Democratic National Convention.

As Breitbart News has reported, more the 1,500 people have accepted invitations to the “9.9 million person march” to “occupy the convention, it would mean a shutdown of the city for 2 days and the most massive protest since the revolutionary war.”

Henry said FDR Park officials will be on patrol outside of the security perimeter, reiterating that every detail has not been decided.

“It’s still in a little bit of flux,” he said. “Not unlike the papal visit, the perimeter was in a state of flux for, really, up until a couple weeks, if not even closer, to the event, before it was firmed up.”

Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson