White House Proposes Underground Visitor Screening Center Beneath Sherman Park

The Trump administration has proposed building an underground center to screen visitors to the White House, according to CBS News and The Associated Press, whose report ran on NBC News. The roughly 33,000-square-foot facility would sit beneath Sherman Park, southeast of the White House, and CBS News said it would be built entirely on federal land.

The plans appear on the agenda for the April 2 meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission, the body that approves construction projects on federal land in the Washington area, CBS News reported; the AP likewise said the commission planned to discuss the proposal on April 2. CBS News said the proposal was developed by the Executive Office of the President with the Secret Service, the Interior Department and the National Park Service. The AP described the collaborators as the Executive Office of the President, the Secret Service and the National Park Service, which manages the White House grounds.

Under the design, visitors would queue in several entry lanes for an initial ID check, then move to a new lobby and a second checkpoint, CBS News reported. CBS News said the screening area is designed for large groups. The commission’s plans did not provide a cost estimate or say where funding would come from, according to CBS News.

On timing, CBS News said construction could begin as early as this fall and be completed by July 2028. The AP, citing the plans, gave a somewhat different start, saying construction could begin as early as August; the two reports differ, and the plans themselves were not independently reviewed.

Visitors to the White House previously lined up in the nearby park before passing through security checkpoints in trailers and tents, CBS News reported. Because of construction of the new East Wing ballroom, visitors now gather at an alternate location in Lafayette Park, according to CBS News and the AP.

White House spokesman Davis Ingle told CBS News that visitors have for too long had “a reduced experience” because tours began in “temporary, double wide trailers and tents outside, often in uncomfortable weather conditions.” He said Trump “took it upon himself to modernize the experience” and that the new visitor center “will be state of the art in design and highlight the beautiful history of the White House and our Nation’s Capital.”

The commission says it is working to limit the effect on historic sites, CBS News reported. According to the plans, the statue of Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman in the park would remain in place, at least six trees would be removed and replaced with native species, and public access to the park would be maintained. The AP also reported that the monument would not be removed.

CBS News noted that the administration faces backlash and legal challenges over several other Washington construction projects, including the ballroom, a two-year renovation of the Kennedy Center and a possible triumphal arch.