White House Expands Ballroom and Upgrades Underground Emergency Operations Center

Construction cranes dotted the White House grounds in Washington, DC, on April 17, as work progressed on a new ballroom where the East Wing once stood. The ongoing construction represents the latest transformation of the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, or PEOC, located beneath the White House.

The PEOC has undergone expansions and updates through various White House renovations, including this current project. A spokesperson for the White House Historical Association said, 'There’s a lot more to the White House than meets the eye. It has six floors, about 55,000 square feet.

There are two sub-basements underneath the house that were part of the Truman renovation.

' The PEOC served as a command center in the aftermath of September 11, 2001.

On that day, Vice President Dick Cheney was escorted to the PEOC. Cheney said in a 2011 interview with the American Enterprise Institute that the Secret Service agent put one hand on the back of his belt and one hand on his shoulder and literally propelled him out of his office.

Cheney was joined in the PEOC by staff members. Cheney advised President George W. Bush, who was in Florida, not to return to Washington, DC. That day marked the first time in US history that the continuity of government operations plan was implemented.

Rare photos of the PEOC on September 11, 2001, were released by the National Archives in 2014 as part of a Freedom of Information Act request. The 2014 PEOC photos showed a conference room with phones, video call capabilities, television screens playing news reports, world clocks, and a map of the United States.

A former first lady wrote in her memoir that on September 11, 2001, she was hustled inside and downstairs through a pair of big steel doors that closed behind her with a loud hiss, forming an airtight seal.

She also described walking along old tile floors with pipes hanging from the ceiling and all kinds of mechanical equipment in unfinished subterranean hallways underneath the White House heading for the PEOC. Upon returning to Washington, DC, on September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush was brought to the PEOC.

A former first lady wrote in her memoir that the president arrived at the PEOC on September 11. When the Secret Service suggested that the first lady and the president spend the night in the PEOC, they declined because the foldout bed looked like it had been installed when FDR was president.

In 2020, President Donald Trump was reportedly rushed to the PEOC as demonstrators protested the killing of George Floyd outside the White House. Police officers held a perimeter near the White House as demonstrators gathered to protest the killing of George Floyd in Washington, DC.

The PEOC was first built in 1942 for President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II. A temporary bomb shelter was built in the Treasury Department in 1941 after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1942, when Roosevelt expanded the East Wing and added a second story, a new presidential bomb shelter was built beneath it.

The 1942 presidential bomb shelter featured a bedroom, bathroom, and communications equipment, all fortified behind concrete walls. During the 1942 White House renovations, Roosevelt converted a cloakroom in the East Wing into a movie theater. The PEOC was expanded as part of President Harry Truman's White House renovations from 1948 to 1952.

The Truman renovation cost $5.7 million and lasted four years. The Truman renovation was required to reinforce the White House structure, which had begun to sag into the ground. During the Truman renovation, the Trumans temporarily moved to Blair House.

The PEOC was expanded and updated during the Truman renovation as the world entered the age of nuclear weapons.