While most public attention has focused on the visible portion of President Donald Trump’s planned new $400 million ballroom, what lies beneath it could end up being the most complex — and most expensive — part of the project.
For weeks, construction teams have been excavating the land, dismantling the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC), to build something larger, more modern and deeper underground.
Built during World War II to protect the president and other senior officials in the event of a crisis, the PEOC was where then-Vice President Dick Cheney was rushed to after the 9/11 attacks, later joined by President George W. Bush and his national security team. In 2020, Trump was also taken there during protests over the death of George Floyd.
The bunker is under what was once the East Wing of the White House, demolished by Trump last year to make way for the new ballroom.
Details of the underground structure are often shrouded in secrecy. But as the hall project faces challenges in court, Trump has spoken more openly about the bunker. He maintains that the two projects are interconnected — which, according to him, would transform the ballroom into a national security necessity.
Below, what is already known about the PEOC.
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“A huge military complex”
On Sunday, speaking to journalists aboard Air Force One, Trump said he envisions the 8,000-square-foot ballroom as a kind of “cover” for the underground work.
“The military is building a huge complex underneath the ballroom, and that is already underway, and it is going very well,” he said.
In Trump’s version, the bunker will have bomb shelters and “very robust medical facilities”, including a hospital. It would also have state-of-the-art secure communications systems and defenses against biological weapons.
He also says that the party room would function as extra protection for the underground structure against drones, gunfire and other types of attacks. “It’s high-performance bulletproof glass. So all the windows are bulletproof,” he said.
Last week, when commenting on the project during a cabinet meeting, the president insisted that “the military wanted this more than anyone else.”
Trump has been using security arguments to reinforce the importance of the project — something he repeated this week, after a judge ordered the work to be suspended, on the grounds that the initiative needs approval from Congress.
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“While and until Congress approves this project through authorization into law, construction must stop!” wrote Judge Richard J. Leon of the Federal District Court in Washington, appointed by former President George W. Bush.
Trump ordered that the decision be questioned, but highlighted an excerpt from Leon’s order that allows “necessary work to ensure the security of the White House” to continue.
“We have biological defense on all sides,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office this week. “We have secure telecommunications everywhere. We have bomb shelters under construction. We have a hospital and very important medical facilities being built. We have all of that. So that means I’m allowed to keep building.”
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The role of the Secret Service
The Secret Service has already presented two statements to the Court defending the need to complete the ballroom project.
In documents sent in December and January, Matthew C. Quinn, deputy director of the Secret Service, argued that halting work could put lives at risk.
According to Quinn, the agency is working with a contractor on safety improvements, but the underground portion has not yet been completed.
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“Thus, any stoppage in construction, even temporary, would leave the contractor’s obligation unfulfilled at this point and, consequently, would harm the Secret Service’s ability to fulfill its legal obligations and its protective mission,” he wrote.
Quinn offered to privately detail the ongoing security improvements to the judge. The Trump administration also filed confidential documents in federal court regarding the project.
Despite this, Leon seemed not to be completely convinced.
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“While I take the government’s concerns about the security of the White House area and the president himself seriously, the existence of a ‘big hole’ next to the White House is clearly a problem created by the president himself!” said the judge.
In January, Joshua Fisher, director of management and administration at the White House, told the National Capital Planning Commission that he could not disclose the administration’s entire plan for the project.
“There are some aspects of this project that are, frankly, top secret in nature that we are working on right now,” he said.
There are still a number of open points about the bunker: which Armed Forces are taking part in the work, how much construction and maintenance will cost and other details that remain secret.
Asked this Monday about the underground part of the project, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt also avoided giving information.
“The military is making some improvements to its facilities here at the White House, and it’s not up to me to provide any more details on that,” he said.
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