Misplaced Pages

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34-884: The Situation Room is an intelligence management complex on the ground floor of the West Wing of the White House . While the name suggests it is a single room, it is in fact a 5,000 square feet (460 m) operations suite consisting of a duty watch station and three secure conference rooms. It is run by about 130 National Security Council staff for the use of the president of the United States , chief of staff , national security advisor , homeland security advisor , and other senior advisors for monitoring and dealing with crises, as well as conducting secure communications with outside (often overseas) persons. The Situation Room has secure, advanced communications equipment for

68-687: A frame window from a sunken courtyard from the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt . The renovations allowed the use of the room to expand from only the National Security Council to include the Homeland Security Council and the office of the White House chief of staff . A secure direct feed to Air Force One was added. Sensors were installed in the ceilings to detect cellular signals to prevent unauthorized communications and bugging by mobile phones , personal digital assistants , and other devices. Before

102-409: A half months and was disruptive, particularly to White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten , whose office was directly above it. The New York Times reported that "Staff members described sitting in his room and hearing ear-piercing noise or watching water ripple in glasses on his desk as the floor shook." The renovation yielded several pieces from decades before, including coaxial cables ; columns; and

136-477: A pool of senior personnel from agencies in the intelligence community and from the military . These members are chosen from heavily vetted nominations made by their parent agencies and are apolitical. They stand watch round the clock, monitoring world events and keeping senior White House staff apprised of significant incidents. The current director of the Situation Room is Marc Gustafson. The purpose of

170-576: A presidential outburst". The Situation Room was once described as "uncomfortable, unaesthetic and essentially oppressive"; others termed the complex before renovation "something of a low-tech dungeon ". Planning for the renovation began before the September 11, 2001, attacks ; the project became more urgent afterward. Renovations began in August 2006, when the Situation Room complex was gutted down to bricks and bare floor. Rebuilding took about four and

204-408: Is hoarded, causes conflict points where information transitions from one type to another. The first conflict point, collection, occurs when private transitions to secret information (intelligence). The second conflict point, dissemination, occurs when secret transitions to public information. Thus, conceiving of intelligence using these assumptions demonstrates the cause of collection techniques (to ease

238-616: Is organized into functional areas, each with its own mission in support of the total WHCA mission of presidential support. The White House Communications Agency is a joint military unit. It has members from each branch of service: United States Air Force (USAF) , United States Army (USA) , United States Coast Guard (USCG) , United States Marine Corps (USMC) , and the United States Navy (USN) . They are stringently vetted before being admitted. After meritorious service of 365 days, typically, its uniformed service members are awarded

272-484: Is transformed from privately held to secretly held to public based on who has control over it. For example, the private information of a source becomes secret information (intelligence) when control over its dissemination is shared with an intelligence officer, and then becomes public information when the intelligence officer further disseminates it to the public by any number of means, including formal reporting, threat warning, and others. The fourth assumption, intelligence

306-715: Is usually in the car when the national security advisor is picked up for work. The morning routine also includes the President's Daily Brief , prepared by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence ; this is delivered to the president and other NSC principals by an intelligence officer, who briefs them about the document. In addition, the Watch Teams produce morning and evening summaries of select material. These summaries of interagency issues are sent electronically to

340-823: The Eisenhower administration , the WHSD was reorganized under the Office of the Chief Signal Officer , Army Signal Corps as a Class II unit and renamed the White House Army Signal Agency ( WHASA ). In 1962, WHASA was discontinued by order of the United States secretary of defense under President John F. Kennedy . Its duties were transferred to the auspices of the Defense Communications Agency under

374-490: The White House Communications Agency . The only thorough renovation of the Situation Room took place in 2006 and 2007. Until then, the room used cathode-ray tubes for monitors , fax for communication, and computers and telephones of the mid 1980s. The room also had a small kitchen with no sink. Encrypted audio-visual equipment was also unreliable and would sometimes go black, "prompting

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408-409: The analyst may direct some collection. Intelligence studies is the academic field concerning intelligence assessment, especially relating to international relations and military science . Intelligence assessment is based on a customer requirement or need, which may be a standing requirement or tailored to a specific circumstance or a Request for Information (RFI). The "requirement" is passed to

442-510: The NSC staff. The Situation Room staff also provides alerts on new events to NSC and White House personnel. Responsible for informing the president is the national security adviser. Later, a written "Sit Room Note" is prepared, summarizing the event with current reports from other centers, perhaps including a photo, diagram, or map. The task of the Situation Room staff is to ensure that the president and national security advisor are informed not only of

476-519: The Situation Room is to provide current intelligence and crisis support to the NSC staff, the national security advisor, and the president. The room is a round-the-clock meeting-place for sensitive information flowing to and from the White House. It is also the funnel through which most communications, especially classified information, pass when the president is not in residence—an essential link, giving

510-452: The assessing agency and worked through the intelligence cycle , a structured method for responding to the RFI. The RFI may indicate in what format the requester prefers to consume the product. The RFI is reviewed by a Requirements Manager, who will then direct appropriate tasks to respond to the request. This will involve a review of existing material, the tasking of new analytical product or

544-456: The collection of new information to inform an analysis. New information may be collected through one or more of the various collection disciplines; human source , electronic and communications intercept , imagery or open sources . The nature of the RFI and the urgency placed on it may indicate that some collection types are unsuitable due to the time taken to collect or validate the information gathered. Intelligence gathering disciplines and

578-441: The current situation but also of how the situation is being portrayed by the news media. Another typical Situation Room activity is arranging the president's phone calls and other sensitive communications with foreign heads of state. This includes scheduling such calls at each end, providing interpreters where necessary, and ensuring appropriate security and record-keeping. In this function, the Situation Room coordinates closely with

612-402: The decision is made to intervene, action is taken to fix the target, confirming that the intervention will have a high probability of success and restricting the ability of the target to take independent action. During the finish stage, the intervention is executed, potentially an arrest or detention or the placement of other collection methods. Following the intervention, exploitation of

646-421: The format may be made available for other uses as well and disseminated accordingly. The analysis will be written to a defined classification level with alternative versions potentially available at a number of classification levels for further dissemination. This approach, known as Find-Fix-Finish-Exploit-Assess ( F3EA ), is complementary to the intelligence cycle and focused on the intervention itself, where

680-411: The information collected, reaching a conclusion along with a measure of confidence around that conclusion. Where sufficient current information already exists, the analysis may be tasked directly without reference to further collection. The analysis is then communicated back to the requester in the format directed, although subject to the constraints on both the RFI and the methods used in the analysis,

714-735: The newly refurbished Situation Room in a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Two of the rooms in the complex were preserved, these being the main conference room and the secure video transmission site. They are currently located at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and the George W. Bush Presidential Center . The Situation Room complex was upgraded in late 2023 after a yearlong renovation for a cost of $ 50 million. The walls were made with sustainably harvested wood, with new monitors installed into them. Faster servers, updated audio equipment, and new computers were also included in

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748-752: The operational control of the White House Military Office , and reestablished as the White House Communications Agency. WHCA has played an unremarked, but significant role in many historical events, including: World War II , the Korean War , the Vietnam War , Panama and Guatemala , Operation Just Cause , Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm , and Operation Restore Hope in Somalia . WHCA

782-463: The past 60 years from a small team of 32 personnel working out of the basement of the White House to a thousand-person self-supporting joint service command. The headquarters for WHCA is at Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling and consists of six staff elements and seven organizational units. WHCA also has supporting detachments in Washington, D.C. , and various locations throughout the United States. WHCA

816-463: The president to maintain command and control of U.S. forces around the world. The Situation Room has been upgraded several times, most recently in late 2023. The Situation Room was created in 1961 on the order of President John F. Kennedy after the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion was attributed to a lack of current information. The facility has secure communications systems; the wood panels over

850-737: The private-secret transition) and dissemination conflicts, and can inform ethical standards of conduct among all agents in the intelligence process. White House Communications Agency The White House Communications Agency ( WHCA ), originally known as the White House Signal Corps ( WHSC ) and then the White House Signal Detachment ( WHSD ), was officially formed by the United States Department of War on March 25, 1942 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt . The organization

884-497: The renovation, the Secret Service confiscated cell-phones but had no other means of preventing smuggled communication devices. The renovation was formally completed by mid-May 2007. On May 17, 2007, President George W. Bush and British prime minister Tony Blair participated in a video conference with members of their Iraq teams from the newly renovated Situation Room. The following day, President Bush officially opened

918-682: The renovation. New leather chairs were added in each room, replacing worn furniture. White House senior staff were given the opportunity to weigh in on the design of the facility. The walls, ceilings, and floors were refitted with a modular design that can allow easy access to technology behind them. This is expected to allow easier renovation in the future. 38°53′50″N 77°02′16″W  /  38.89728°N 77.03771°W  / 38.89728; -77.03771 Intelligence (information gathering) An intelligence assessment reviews available information and previous assessments for relevance and currency. Where there requires additional information,

952-458: The sources and methods used are often highly classified and compartmentalised, with analysts requiring an appropriate high level of security clearance . The process of taking known information about situations and entities of importance to the RFI, characterizing what is known and attempting to forecast future events is termed " all source " assessment, analysis or processing . The analyst uses multiple sources to mutually corroborate, or exclude,

986-422: The subject of the assessment is clearly identifiable and provisions exist to make some form of intervention against that subject, the target-centric assessment approach may be used. The subject for action, or target, is identified and efforts are initially made to find the target for further development. This activity will identify where intervention against the target will have the most beneficial effects. When

1020-416: The target is carried out, which may lead to further refinement of the process for related targets. The output from the exploit stage will also be passed into other intelligence assessment activities. The Intelligence Information Cycle leverages secrecy theory and U.S. regulation of classified intelligence to re-conceptualize the traditional intelligence cycle under the following four assumptions: Information

1054-632: The traveling White House access to all the information from Washington's national-security community. The day begins with the watch team's preparation of the Morning Book. Prepared for the president, the vice president, and most senior White House staff, the Morning Book contains a copy of the National Intelligence Daily, the State Department's Morning Summary, and diplomatic cables and intelligence reports. The Book

Situation Room - Misplaced Pages Continue

1088-483: The walls hide audio, video, and other systems. The Situation Room staff is about 130 people, including five watch teams, which monitor domestic and international events; a travel support team; video operators; and communications technicians. Each watch team includes six duty officers, a communications assistant, and a senior intelligence analyst , though the number and composition of the teams may vary, depending on shift requirements and workload. The teams are staffed from

1122-534: Was also a key player in documenting the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the attempted assassinations of presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan . Richard Nixon awarded the agency the Presidential Unit Citation in recognition of their performance during his 1972 visit to China . The White House Communications Agency is composed of Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps personnel. The agency evolved over

1156-434: Was created to provide secure normal, secret, and emergency communications requirements supporting the president. The organization provided mobile radio , Teletype , telegraph , telephone and cryptographic aides in the White House and at "Shangri-La" (now known as Camp David ). The organizational mission was to provide a premier communication system enabling the president to lead the nation effectively. In 1954, during

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