There’s a ‘top-secret’ project beneath the White House East Wing. CNN has the details on what’s inside – and what’s coming
It was 1941, and Franklin D. Roosevelt had been encouraged to build a bomb shelter at the White House in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor. At the time, “no public acknowledgment was made of there being a bomb shelter under construction, only the East Wing,” according to White House Historical Association historian Bill Seale. Nixon during a press conference in the East Wing of the White House in January 1969. The White House declined CNN’s request for comment. A ‘tomb-like’ shelterThough Roosevelt’s construction was initially envisioned as a bomb shelter, underground facilities beneath the East Wing evolved over time to serve multiple functions.
Source: CNN January 19, 2026 15:31 UTC
