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A National Nerve Center Inside The White House Situation Room Michael Donley, Cornelius O™Leary, and John Monfgomery of the Go to the southwest gate current intelligence information is White House complex, present the provided to key decisionmakers, guard with identification, and state including the President. your business. If you are on the appointment list, an escort will be called. Walk up West Executive Ave Mission, Organization, Functions nue and turn tight into the West Basement entrance; another guard The WHSR was established by Presi will check for White your pass dent Kennedy after the Bay of Pigs House Take the first access. right, disaster in 1961. That crisis revealed down a few stairs. To the left is the a need for rapid and secure presiden White House Mess; on the is a right tial communications and for White Just remember that there locked door. House coordination of the many are many important people external communications channels of Behind these of the who work in the White layers security is national security information which White House Situation Room led to the President.™ Since then, the House, and you™re not one (WHSR), a conference room sur mission of the fSit Roomf has been rounded three sides small of them. on by two to provide current intelligence and offices, workstations, com multiple crisis support to the NSC staff, the puters, and communications National Security Adviser, and the 9, The conference is equipment. room President. The Sit Room staff is com soundproofed and well appointed posed of approximately 30 but small and slightly cramped. The personnel, organized around five technical equipment is up to date, Watch Teams that provide 7-day, 24- though not necessarily fleading hour monitoring of international foot of is edgef; every square space events. A generic Watch Team functional. Visitors typically are includes three Duty Officers, a com the location and tech impressed by munications assistant, and an nology, but they are often surprised intelligence analyst. The number and at the small size. composition of personnel varies, depending on shift requirements and While it is widely known that impor workload. tant meetings are held here, the of the in the importance WHSR Sit Room personnel are handpicked daily life of the National Security from nominations made by military Council (NSC) and White House and civilian intelligence agencies for critical role staff and its in Washing approximately two-year tours. This is ton™s network of national key a close, high-visibility work environ Michael Donley was Deputy Execu security operations and intelligence ment. are checked at the door, tive Secretary of the National Egos less understood. This centers are as captured in the admonition of a Security Council, 1987-89. paper is intended to fill that void. former Sit Room Director to incom Cornelius O™Leary is a former Direc We believe there is a longstanding ing Duty Officers: fJust remember tot of the White House Situation within middle and senior levels need that there are many important peo Room. John Montgomery is a of the Intelligence Community (IC) ple who work in the White House, the former intelligence analyst at of for a basic understanding NSC and you™re not one of them.f Per National Security Council. and White House functions and how sonal characteristics count: an even 7 Situation Room In all situations other than nuclear war or physical threats against the coolness under on-site television temperament, pres President, the Sit Room is broadcasts from sure, and the ability to have a the crisis area and newswire services coherent, professional, no-advance- in effect the 24-hour, one pumping a steady volume of informa notice conversation with the Presi for the White tion destined for the morning front dent stop shop of the United States. pages. The Duty Officer™s task is to House staff. ensure that the President and Sit Room functions are perhaps National Security Adviser are described best in the daily routine of informed not only of the current situ activities. The day begins with the ation but also how the situation is Watch Team™s preparation of the being portrayed by the media. Less- Morning Book. Prepared for the Presi than-objective images can sometimes dent, Vice President, and most senior senior decisionmakers to read, and it place the Duty Officer in a position White House staff, the Morning falls to the Sit Room to boil that of having to produce fnegativef Book contains a copy of the National information down to its essential intelligence to put the event into con Intelligence Daily, the State Depart elements. text. Occasionally, it may even prove ment™s Morning Summary, and necessary to tell the principal that the diplomatic cables and intelligence In a typical 24-hour day, the Sit events as portrayed by the press incorrect. reports. These cables and reports are Room will provide alerts on breaking are selected based on their relevance to events to NSC and White House per ongoing diplomatic initiatives and br sonnel. Triggered by specific events While the advancements in telecom specific subject matter on the Presi and followed with consultations munications have placed more dent™s schedule. The Morning Book is among operations and intelligence pressure on the watch standers, they usually in the car when the National centers, the alert notification process have also simplified the exchange of Security Adviser is picked up for results in a rapid series of phone calls information among participating work. The morning routine also to key officials. Responsibility for agencies. The same satellites that includes the President™s Daily Brief informing the President belongs to allow news reporting from the field which is prepared by CIA, hand-deliv the National Security Adviser. Later, also enable crisis-support elements to ered, and briefed by a CIA officer to a written fSit Room Notef will be extract information from remote the President and other NSC prepared, summarizing the event databases, provide for timely report principals.2 with up-to-the-minute reports from ing, and, in some cases, engage in other centers, perhaps including a video teleconferencing. In addition, the Watch Teams pro photo, diagram, or map. At the direc duce morning and evening tion of the National Security Another typical Sit Room activity is summaries of highly selective mate Adviser, such a note might be deliv arranging the President™s phone calls rial. These summaries, targeted on ered by a Duty Officer directly to and other sensitive communications current interagency issues, are trans the Oval Office or the President™s res with foreign heads of state. This mitted electronically to the NSC idential quarters. After hours, includes coordinating the timing of staff. Such summaries, which draw depending on their personal style or such calls at each end, providing on a number of finished interagency interest, the President or Vice Presi interpreters where necessary, and call products, field reports, and news- dent might the Sit Room directly ensuring appropriate security and wires, may also elicit requests for the or drop by unannounced for a quick recordkeeping. In this function, the original products. The Sit Room update. Sit Room coordinates closely with staff does not perform intelligence the White House Communications analysis or render the kind of formal The advent of 24-hour-a-day televi Agency, which supplies communica interagency judgments found in sion news broadcasting as well as tions technicians to the Watch National Intelligence Estimates. But radio has added a new dynamic to Teams. it is important to recognize that, warning and alert operations. Not especially at the White House, there only do Duty Officers pour over hun The importance of the Sit Room™s is always more intelligence informa dreds of incoming cables, but they communications function cannot be tion available than there is time for also are constantly bombarded by overstated. In all situations other 8 Situation Room This intimate knowledge of the President™s schedule makes the Sit Room unique than nuclear war or physical threats established among the National Secu against the President, the Sit Room among Washington-area rity Adviser, the Executive Secretary, is in effect the 24-hour, one-stop operations and intelligence and the Sit Room Director. shop for the White House staff. It is centers. also the funnel through which most This trust is especially important in communications, especially classified establishing the thresholds for warn information, will pass when the Presi ~9 ing and alert after hours and dent is not in residence. It is an providing advance notice of future essential link, providing the traveling events. Upon the death of a foreign White House with access to all the For this the Sit Room has head of state, for example, it not information available from Washing reason, may be to awaken the National ton™s national security community. often been administratively assigned necessary in to the Office of the Executive Secre Security Adviser or the President the middle of the If there tary. With inclusion of the Sit night. are the no threats to American citizens Essential Relationships Room, Executive Secretary becomes the focal point for all infor involved and no action for the Presi dent mation going to the National to take, perhaps a fwake-upf There are two essential relationships Security Adviser, from the delibera notification at 5 a.m. would suffice. that the Situation Room has to main it is unusual for the Sit tive (fslow paperf) policy to Similarly, not tain if it is to be successful in process fast-moving perishable intelligence Room Director to be included in sen providing timely information to the and crisis information.

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