Trump White House Proposes 33,000‑Square‑Foot Underground Visitor Screening Center
The Trump White House is seeking approval to build a 33,000‑square‑foot underground security‑screening center beneath Sherman Park, just southeast of the mansion and south of the Treasury Building, to process all visitors before they enter the grounds. According to plans on the National Capital Planning Commission’s April 2 agenda, the facility — a joint project of the Executive Office of the President, the U.S. Secret Service and the National Park Service — would include seven screening lanes designed to shorten lines and move queues off Pennsylvania Avenue and Lafayette Park, where visitors now wait after President Trump demolished the East Wing last fall to make way for a new ballroom. The park’s monument to Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman would remain in place, but the project marks another major reshaping of the historic White House campus and its security perimeter. Construction could start as soon as August 2026, with the administration aiming to have the center operating by July 2028, about six months before Trump’s term is scheduled to end, and the same NCPC meeting is slated to take a final vote on a separate 90,000‑square‑foot East Wing replacement building that includes a large ballroom. The plan underscores how a sitting president is using federal construction and planning bodies to lock in long‑term changes to how the public physically accesses the White House, even as broader national‑security concerns and protests keep security around the complex under scrutiny.
📌 Key Facts
- The proposed underground White House visitor‑screening center would be 33,000 square feet and located beneath Sherman Park, southeast of the White House and south of the Treasury Building.
- Plans show seven screening lanes intended to speed processing and move tourist lines away from Lafayette Park and Pennsylvania Avenue.
- The National Capital Planning Commission has placed the proposal on its April 2, 2026 meeting agenda, with construction potentially beginning as early as August 2026 and an operational target of July 2028.
- President Trump previously ordered the demolition of the East Wing in fall 2025 to build a 90,000‑square‑foot replacement including a large ballroom, which is also up for final NCPC approval.
📊 Relevant Data
Approximately 10,000 people visit the White House on public tours each week, equating to roughly 520,000 visitors annually.
White House tours get a revamp for the first time in decades — NPR
An estimated 6.2% of Black non-Hispanic Americans and 6.1% of Hispanic Americans lack a valid photo ID, compared to lower rates among White Americans; nationally, about 11% of voting-age citizens lack a driver's license, with disparities higher among young people and people of color.
Report shows young people, people of color less likely to have valid photo identification — Phys.org
Post-9/11, the U.S. government significantly expanded national security measures, including the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2002, which integrated agencies to enhance border security, immigration enforcement, and protection of federal sites like the White House.
Post-9/11 — USCIS
In March 2026, the White House halted the release of a security bulletin warning of Iran-related threats, amid ongoing U.S.-Iran tensions including reported bombing raids and drone attack aspirations.
White House halts security bulletin warning of Iran-related threats — Reuters
📰 Source Timeline (1)
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