How the New White House Ballroom Would Change the President's Plans in the Event of a National Emergency
The Trump administration revealed recently in a court filing that the advanced security features of in the bunker being built under the new White House ballroom will protect against modern threats.
Last summer, President Donald Trump announced his plans to build a new ballroom where the East Wing was. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit group, sued to halt its construction.
A federal judge ruled late last month that Trump lacked the authority to go forward with the $400 million project without congressional approval, though construction is being funded privately. The judge allowed limited construction of the 90,000 square foot facility, which could accommodate up to 1,000 guests, to go forward while the Department of Justice appealed the ruling.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that in the DOJ’s court of appeals filing, Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll “mapped out in detail how an underground bomb shelter would structurally withstand a precision drone strike on the White House.”
Driscoll also “suggested that the president would be kept on-site in a bunker during a threat to national security instead of being evacuated,” according to the outlet.
“Securing this reinforced subterranean node is essential to ensure uninterrupted command and control in place,” Driscoll said in a court declaration. “Relying on evacuation of the president to an off-site location during an attack or global crisis is ‘tactically flawed.’”
Last month, USA Today reported that details about the military aspect of the construction were first revealed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s lawsuit.
The news outlet further noted that a bunker was installed under the East Wing of the White House during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration. The East Wing was first constructed in 1902 during President Teddy Roosevelt’s administration, and then expanded under FDR in 1942.
BREAKING: @PressSec announces the construction of a new 90,000 sq ft ballroom at the White House — with construction to begin in September.
Visit https://t.co/Nq7Vqlw3HO for more. pic.twitter.com/XadWWxOGON
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 31, 2025
The old bunker, known as the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, had been updated over the years to protect against various types of attacks, including nuclear war, according to USA Today.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One last month, Trump explained, “The military is building a big complex under the ballroom, which has come out recently because of a stupid lawsuit that was filed.”
“But the military’s building a massive complex under the ballroom, and that’s under construction, and we’re doing very well,” he added.
Trump appeared to downplay the importance of the ballroom in relation to the military project going on underneath it. “The ballroom essentially becomes a shed of what’s being built under the military, including from drones and including from any other thing,” he said.
“The glass on the windows, you see the big windows, the glass is extremely thick. It’s high-grade bulletproof glass. So all of the windows are bulletproof,” Trump noted.
BELOW THE SURFACE: President Trump reveals the U.S. military is building a “massive complex” beneath the planned, privately-funded White House ballroom, and that construction is “ahead of schedule.” pic.twitter.com/VDbepFqox8
— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 30, 2026
He also defended the aesthetics of the addition against a scathing New York Times report published at the time, saying, “It fits in with the White House. It’s almost a twin to the White House. It’s something. We just wanted to pay tribute to the White House.”
In the aftermath of the third assassination attempt against him over the weekend, Trump told CBS “60 Minutes” reporter Norah O’Donnell on Sunday, “I’m building a safe ballroom. And one of the reasons I’m building it is exactly what happened last night.”
🚨@POTUS pushes White House ballroom: “I have to say, it’s not a safe ballroom. I’m building a safe ballroom, and one of the reasons I’m building it is exactly what happened last night.”
🎥: 60 Minutes pic.twitter.com/jvPD2Knl88
— Off The Press (@OffThePress1) April 27, 2026
He added, “That ballroom is being built on the safest piece of property in this country.”
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