President Trump’s push to demolish the East Wing to build a long-desired White House ballroom has drawn attention to a less-publicized project: substantial military and security work beneath the site that once housed an underground bunker.
The administration began tearing down the East Wing in October to make way for the estimated $300 million, 90,000-square-foot ballroom. The plan has prompted public protests and criticism from preservation and architectural groups; the National Trust for Historic Preservation sued to block the work. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon recently ruled construction must stop until Congress authorizes completion, but he allowed some work to continue “for the safety and security of the White House,” reflecting the administration’s argument that the project serves security purposes as well as aesthetics.
Court filings and Trump’s public comments have emphasized those security claims. On Air Force One, Trump said the ballroom “essentially becomes a shed for what’s being built under,” adding that “high-grade bulletproof glass” would protect the facility below “from drones and … from any other thing.” He later read a note in the Oval Office listing upgrades he said are included: drone-proof roofing, secure air-handling systems, bio-defense, secure telecommunications, bomb shelters, and major medical facilities.
The existence of an older White House bunker—known as the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC)—has been an open secret for decades. Built during World War II under the East Wing for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, it featured thick concrete walls, a small presidential bedroom and bath, ventilation masks, food storage and communications equipment. The facility was upgraded over time and used on Sept. 11, 2001; the government released photos in 2015 showing senior officials, including President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, sheltering there that day.
Accounts from former first lady Laura Bush and others describe a subterranean command center with phones, televisions and communications gear. Later renovations under President Obama included a major excavation near the Oval Office that exposed tunnels and prompted speculation. The General Services Administration described that work as routine upgrades to HVAC and electrical systems, but reporters and others saw what they called a sprawling multistory underground structure requiring truckloads of concrete and steel. The 2011 “Big Dig” drew skepticism and coverage suggesting the work was security-related.
Questions resurfaced in 2020 during protests outside the White House, when reports said the Secret Service briefly moved President Trump into an underground area; Trump later said he had gone in “more for an inspection.” During the current East Wing demolition, CNN reported the old bunker had been dismantled, and it’s unclear what the new subterranean construction will look like or how it will operate.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to provide details, saying only that the military was making upgrades and she was not privy to further information. In court filings, however, the Secret Service confirmed involvement while keeping specifics minimal. Deputy Director Matthew Quinn said the agency was working with the contractor on temporary security and safety measures around the construction site and warned that pausing work would hamper the Secret Service’s ability to meet statutory obligations. He offered to brief the judge privately on law enforcement sensitive and classified details. Other administration officials sought to submit further information in a classified setting to avoid putting national security discussion on the public docket.
Trump has publicly said the project is being done “with the design, consent, and approval of the highest levels of the United States Military and Secret Service,” and accused opponents of exposing a “heretofore Top Secret fact.” At a National Capital Planning Commission meeting, White House official Josh Fisher said some aspects of the project were “top-secret” in nature.
Critics have focused less on the security claims and more on the lack of public input, congressional authorization, environmental impacts, and historical preservation concerns. After soliciting public comments and making some modifications, the planning commission voted to approve a tweaked version of the ballroom plan even as the federal court order remained in place.
The case highlights tensions between transparency and secrecy around national-security related work on federal landmarks. The White House’s description of modern upgrades—drone defenses, biosecurity, medical facilities and hardened communications—matches broader post‑9/11 and pandemic-era priorities for protecting continuity of government and presidential survivability. But the decision to carry out major construction at the historically significant East Wing without fuller public or congressional debate has fueled legal and civic backlash.
As the administration appeals Judge Leon’s ruling, some construction tied to security has been allowed to proceed under the court’s narrow carve-out. What becomes clear from filings and officials’ comments is that the ballroom project is being positioned as a cover and protective structure for extensive, and in some respects classified, underground upgrades. Debate over whether those upgrades require congressional authorization, more public oversight, or stricter historic-preservation procedures is likely to continue as the legal process unfolds.