Washington Navy Bases Tighten Security After National Incidents

KITSAP COUNTY, WA — The Navy is tightening security procedures at bases in Washington and around the country after three recent incidents nationwide. The Kitsap Sun reports guests will undergo additional vetting, be required to have an escort and will not be allowed inside base exchanges, chapels, and commissaries. The temporary rules will affect bases at Keyport, Manchester, Bangor, Bremerton, and Naval Hospital Bremerton.

The Associated Press reports the restrictions were put in place after unrelated shootings earlier in the month at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Naval Air Station Pensacola. In another incident, at a base in Virginia in November, a driver traveling in the wrong direction hit and killed a sailor.

According to the Kitsap Sun, naval officials have not said how long the enhanced security measures will stay in place.