The White House Situation Room- where national security threats to America are dealt with

 

WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM

     The Situation Room is an amazing 5,525-square-foot conference room and intelligence center in the basement of the West Wing of the White House. It is run by the National Security Council staff for the use of the president of the United States and his advisors (including the national security advisor, the homeland security advisor and the White House chief of staff) when a national security crisis arises at home and abroad.

     There are live, secure communications with outside (often overseas) persons when meetings are held. The room also is equipped with secure, advanced communications equipment for the president to maintain command and control of U.S. forces around the world.

     The Situation Room staff is organized around five watch teams that monitor domestic and international events. Each watch team includes three duty officers, a communications assistant, and an intelligence analyst. The teams are staffed from a pool of approximately 30 senior personnel from various agencies in the intelligence community and from the military. All are handpicked, seasoned professionals chosen from their respective agencies. They remain strictly apolitical and stand watch on a 24-hour basis, constantly monitoring world events and keeping senior White House staff apprised of significant incidents.

     A typical day in the Situation Room begins with the watch team's preparation of the Morning Book. Prepared for the president, 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 Morning Book is usually in the car when the national security advisor is picked up for work. The morning routine also includes the PDB, or President’s Daily Brief, which is prepared by the ODNI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and hand-delivered, and briefed by an intelligence community officer to the president and other NSC principals.

     A neat scene unfolds in the Situation Room in the MISSION OF VENGEANCE spy thriller where CIA spymaster Corey Pearson discusses an escalating situation with Russia in the Caribbean, one that could lead to many American tourists dying. Here’s a few snippets from that scene:

     Maggie opened a lead-lined cabinet beside her desk. “You know the routine.”

     General Morrison placed his secure phone inside. Maggie locked it up and said, “The president is waiting for you.”

     A guard opened the door. Morrison walked into the soundproof Situation Room, the same room that President Obama and his national security team sat in years before, watching the actual raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound through a videocam attached to a SEAL Team 6 soldier.

     President Rhinehart sat at the far end of the conference table next to Maxwell Gordon, Secretary of the new DCIOC, Domestic Counter-Intelligence Operations Center. They were pouring over an intelligence report that Morrison sent them.

     “Yes, and I’m troubled by the Spetsnaz forces our Russian double agent Yury Bocharov refers to. I thought they were disbanded when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991?”

     “They remained intact, went underground and festered. Putin has rejuvenated the Cold War and the KGB’s Spetsnaz, but it now works alongside their foreign intelligence agency, the GRU.”

     Gordon said, “The CIA estimates that the GRU commands over 25,000 Spetsnaz operatives around the globe. They actively recruit Russian citizens in foreign countries who are still loyal to their mother Russia. We’re watching one in Turkey. A CIA operative in Ankara reported that a Russian businessman he recruited was approached by a Spetsnaz agent, wanting to use his home as a safe house.”

     Rhinehart pushed a few buttons next to him and one of five flat-screen televisions on the wall flickered, then CIA spymaster Corey’s encrypted visual image and voice appeared.

     “Yes, sir. Mr. President.”

     “Agent Pearson, I’ll be blunt. I want every member of the Spetsnaz team that killed the American family taken out. Do you understand me?!”

     “I do. There were six altogether. We captured one, but he didn’t survive the EIT. His name was Alexei Suvorov.”

     “Where are the others? I do not want them to get out of the Dominican Republic alive.”

     “They’re staying on a luxury yacht that we have under surveillance.”

     Rhinehart folded his arms and massaged his chin as he slowly turned and walked back to his chair and sat down. He looked over at General Morrison. “Bill, I’m activating the USS Caribbean Sea amphibious assault ship. It will sail out of Norfolk tonight and begin training exercises off the coast of the Dominican Republic. I want you to contact CBIF’s special ops commander and have him and two squads board while it’s in route.

     Morrison said, “That would be one-hundred troops.”

     “Exactly. I want the entire contingent, including their Blackhawk assault and Apache attack helicopters onboard. If any more U.S. citizens are killed, Spetsnaz will quickly have real warriors in their faces… America will go to war.”

                                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lastly, here's a video about America's Book of Secrets- The White House: Inside the Situation Room:

Robert Morton is a member of the Association Of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) and writes about the U.S. Intelligence Community. He also enjoys traveling to the Caribbean, Bahamas, and Florida Keys. Both passions are combined in his Corey Pearson- CIA Spymaster spy thriller series.