White House 'Big Dig' Could Be Huge Security Bunker

WILL STOREY in Washington

IRISHTIMES.COM

PRESIDENT BARACK Obama, who has been travelling the country urging Congress to pass his jobs Bill so Americans can be put to work on infrastructure projects, need only look out a window in the West Wing to see one such project. Under way on his front lawn for the past 17 months, it is highly visible and yet mysterious.

For the first time in recent memory, the ground and pipes beneath the Oval Office are exposed, and each day, workers lower massive concrete blocks several stories underground. Cranes, trucks and construction workers file in and out of the hole, usually through a passageway between the White House and the Old Executive Office Building.

The cavernous hole has inspired much speculation. Is it an Olympic-size swimming pool for the fitness-conscious first couple? A more spacious bunker? A place, perhaps, to hide the deficit?

The general services administration says it is an elaborate renovation of the building’s aging air conditioning and electrical systems. These upgrades take place periodically, a spokeswoman, Sara Merriam, said, adding that Washington’s “big dig” would continue on the other side of the White House.

The final phase of construction will take place near the presidential emergency operations centre, made famous as the spot where vice-president Dick Cheney took shelter in the hours after the 9/11 attacks while his boss remained on Air Force One, awaiting the all-clear to return to Washington.

Although White House officials say they don’t know too much about the construction, some said they think it is “security-related”.

Another White House official said the construction would eventually link whatever is being built underground with the operations centre, which was originally built during the administration of Franklin D Roosevelt – the idea being a general expansion of an emergency base of operations.

“It is security-related construction,” said the official, who was not authorised to speak publicly about the project. “Even we don’t know exactly what.”

Pebble Beach, the unofficial name for the raised platform where television news correspondents do stand-up shots from the White House lawn, offers a clear view of the hole. Camera crews have watched the construction process. “It’s all about air conditioning, right?” said one when asked what he knew. “Yeah, that’s right,” replied another, with a smirk. “Air conditioning.” – (New York Times)

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