White House Big Dig
{{Short description|White House construction project}}
The White House Big Dig was the name used in press reports to describe a multi-year construction project at the White House that began in September 2010 and temporarily concluded in 2012, with a second phase planned for the future. According to the General Services Administration (GSA), the $376-million project, which involved a multi-story excavation adjacent to the West Wing, was to replace electrical wiring and update air conditioning. A second phase of the project, with an unannounced start date, will involve a similar excavation adjacent to the East Wing. Funds for the White House Big Dig were allocated by a congressional appropriation made in late 2001.{{cite news|title=White House 'Big Dig': West Wing entrance fenced off|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post_now/post/white-house-big-dig-west-wing-entrance-fenced-off/2011/04/04/AFvegfbC_blog.html|accessdate=25 January 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|agency=Associated Press|date=4 April 2011}}
Despite the utilitarian description of its purpose, the project came to be the object of intense media speculation. The Washington Post characterized the GSA description of the project as a "nothing to see here story" while The New York Times, citing an anonymous source, claimed it was "security-related construction."{{cite news|last1=Storey|first1=Will|title=Big Hole in White House Lawn Prompts Equally Big Questions|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/us/big-hole-on-white-house-lawn-prompts-speculation.html?_r=0|accessdate=25 January 2016|work=The New York Times|date=17 October 2011}}{{cite news|last1=Davenport|first1=Christian|title=In the Nation's Capital, Underground is Where it's At|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/in-the-nations-capital-underground-is-where-its-at/2011/11/22/gIQABFo42N_story.html|accessdate=25 January 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=27 November 2011}} The Associated Press reported that a privacy screen was placed around the construction site for its duration and sub-contractors on the project were required to cover identifying marks or logos on their company vehicles, measures which it implied were unusual.{{cite news|last1=Smith|first1=Mark|title=White House Big Dig Remains A Mystery As Construction Wraps Up|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/12/white-house-big-dig-remai_n_1877484.html|accessdate=25 January 2016|work=Huffington Post|agency=Associated Press|date=12 September 2012}} ABC News, meanwhile, equated the construction project as a "mystery" on-par with "what happened to the dinosaurs". In a story set to the theme song from the science fiction television program The X-Files, reporter John Berman sarcastically commented "maybe it is a bunch of pipes and wires ... just like Area 51".{{cite news|title=Mysterious White House Hole|url=https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/top-secret-white-house-project-built-14767941|accessdate=25 January 2016|work=ABC News}}
In 2013, RealClearPolitics reported that a "clone" of the Oval Office would be built in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, as the Oval Office would be unusable during the second phase of the White House Big Dig.{{cite news|last1=Simendinger|first1=Alex|title=2nd Oval Office Readied in White House Rehab Project|url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/02/01/2nd_oval_office_readied_in_white_house_rehab_project__116887.html|accessdate=25 January 2016|work=Real Clear Politics|date=1 February 2013}} White House press secretary Jay Carney subsequently rebutted that report as false.{{cite news|last1=Boyer|first1=Dane|title=Clone Oval Office Report Denied|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/feb/6/white-house-no-duplicate-oval-office/?page=all|accessdate=25 January 2016|work=Washington Times|date=6 February 2013}}