Figure 4-11: 

Excavations, berms,
and ditches.
SOURCE: AFTER DoD
HANDBOOK: 
SELECTION AND APPLICATION
OF VEHICLE BARRIERS, MIL-
HDBK-1013/14, 1999

The ha-ha is a form of barrier that originated for aesthetic purposes in

17th century England. The barrier was used to prevent cattle from wan-
dering up to a country mansion, while at the same time the barrier wall
was invisible to the house. This strategy has been adapted for use as a se-
curity barrier, most notably around the new setting for the Washington
Monument. Here it replaces an unsightly circle of Jersey barriers and
allows an unimpeded view of its surroundings from the base of the mon-
ument. Viewed from outside the site from below, the Jersey barriers are
replaced by an elegantly detailed masonry wall. A happy historical refer-
ence is that Washington’s home at Mount Vernon used ha-ha’s for their
original purpose (Figure 4-12)

perimeter security design 4-17

 level of protection for a particular building. Typical elements that lend
themselves to this approach include hardened street furniture, fences or
fence walls, plinth walls (low retaining walls), bollards, planters, light stan-
dards, bus shelters etc (Figure 4-33).

Figure 4-33:  Streetscape elements suitable for hardening as security elements

SOURCE: NCPC

4-34 Perimeter security design