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The former Presidential Emergency Operations Center was demolished to make way for an underground military complex with a hospital, biological defense, and secure communications — all beneath a $400 million ballroom that has already accumulated 9,000 public criticisms
Revealed by CNN in January 2026 and expanded upon by court documents in April, the project involves the complete demolition of the White House East Wing to erect a $400 million ballroom above it — and excavate a military fortress below it that no one outside the government can see.
White House Director of Management and Administration, Joshua Fisher, presented the plan to the National Capital Planning Commission in January.
At the time, Fisher admitted he could not disclose all details because there are “aspects of a top-secret nature” to the project.
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Since then, construction crews have been excavating underground and dismantling one of the most sensitive structures of the American presidency.
The World War II bunker that protected presidents for 80 years — and was demolished
To make way for the new complex, the military dismantled the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC).
Built during World War II, the PEOC served as a refuge in times of crisis for over eight decades.
It was there that Vice President Dick Cheney took shelter during the September 11, 2001 attacks, while President George W. Bush was taken to an air base.
It was also in the PEOC that Donald Trump took refuge in 2020, when protesters surrounded the White House during the protests over George Floyd’s death.
Now, this historic bunker no longer exists. In its place, the military is building a facility described as “larger and deeper.”
Air-raid shelters, hospital, and biological defense: what Trump revealed about the bunker
In public statements, President Trump detailed part of what is being built under the White House.
According to him, as reported by Gulf News in April 2026, the complex includes air-raid shelters designed to withstand direct attacks.
Additionally, there is a complete military hospital, described by Trump as having “very robust medical facilities.”
The president also mentioned state-of-the-art secure communication systems, capable of keeping the government operational even in extreme scenarios.
Another point revealed was the inclusion of defenses against biological weapons. Trump stated that there is “biological defense on all sides” of the structure.
All windows of the new ballroom received high-performance bulletproof glass, also designed to protect against drone attacks.
Consequently, the ballroom being built above functions as an additional layer of physical protection for the bunker below.
Ballroom or fortress? The argument that transformed luxury into national security
The ballroom project occupies approximately 22,000 square feet (about 2,000 square meters) and will cost $400 million.
However, the separation between what is luxury and what is security has become the center of a legal battle.
Trump argues that the two projects — the ballroom and the bunker — are inseparable. Thus, according to him, the ballroom becomes “a national security necessity.”
Funding reflects this duality. Public resources finance the construction of the bunker and security systems, while private donations — including corporate contributions and Trump’s own — cover the ballroom.
The identity of private donors, however, remains confidential.
The Deputy Director of the U.S. Secret Service, Matthew Quinn, warned that any pause in the work could “harm” the presidential protection mission.
The judge who ordered the work to stop — and Trump’s response
In April 2026, a lawsuit exposed details previously kept under absolute secrecy.
Federal Judge Richard J. Leon, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ordered the immediate suspension of the works.
His decision was direct: “Unless and until Congress approves this project through an authorization in law, construction must stop!”
Still, Trump found a loophole. The decision’s text itself allows for the continuation of “works necessary to ensure the security of the White House.”
With this, the president argued that the bunker excavations fall under this exception — and underground work continued.
Despite the controversy, the National Capital Planning Commission voted 8 to 1 to approve the complete project.
On the other hand, more than 9,000 public comments were registered against the work — coming from historians, architects, and preservationists who criticize the scale of the project.
What no one knows — and perhaps never will
White House spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, summarized the government’s official position with a short sentence.
“The military is making some improvements to their facilities here at the White House, and it’s not for me to provide further details on that,” she stated.
Indeed, several aspects of the project remain classified as top secret.
No one outside the government knows the actual depth of the new bunker.
Nor is it known how many people the complex can accommodate, which Armed Forces are participating in the construction, or what the total cost of the military structure is.
Above all, there is no independent confirmation of the technical capabilities described by Trump — such as the biological defense system or the underground hospital.
What is known is that a bunker that protected presidents for 80 years was demolished. And in its place, something larger is being built.
From Roosevelt to Trump: the tradition of bunkers under the White House
The history of underground shelters at the White House dates back to World War II, when President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the construction of the first refuge.
Since then, each president found the PEOC as a silent inheritance — present, but rarely mentioned in public.
In this sense, what makes Trump’s project different is not the existence of the bunker itself, but the unprecedented scale of the reconstruction.
No president before him demolished the existing shelter to build an entirely new one. And none combined the military work with a $400 million ballroom.
For critics, the project represents an excess. For the Secret Service, it is a necessary update in the face of new threats, such as armed drones and biological weapons.
Thus, the question that remains is not whether the White House needs a modern bunker — but whether anyone, besides the president, should know what truly exists beneath it.
What can still change
The project awaits a definitive vote in the American Congress. If legislators decide that the work requires formal authorization, all construction could be halted.
Furthermore, the final costs of the bunker remain unknown. Underground military projects have a history of exceeding budgets — as the American missile defense program itself has repeatedly demonstrated.
For now, excavations continue. And what is being built under the White House remains, as the government itself is keen to remind us, “of a top-secret nature.”
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