President Kennedy created the White House situation Room in 1961 in reaction to the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. Shown here in a 1962 photograph, the small simple room quickly became second only to the Oval Office in importance to the presidency.
The conference room in the Situation Room complex was has been upgraded several times since 1961. This photograph shows its configuration in 1989. The table only sat ten people, thus creating a handy limit to the number of attendees at presidential meetings.
The White House began renovating the Sit Room complex in late 2006, replacing the older video displays with more modern electronics. The laptop computers look great on the table but will get in the way during crises.
President George W. Bush met with his advisors in the Situation Room every day in the weeks immediately following the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
The Situation Room is first and foremost the president’s intelligence center and communications hub. The facility is manned 24/7 by teams of duty officers and communications technicians. They monitor an enormous stream of perishable information, keeping the president and his senior staff apprized of world events.