On Monday night, President Donald Trump reportedly directed his national security staff to convene in the Situation Room to discuss the Israel-Iran conflict.
This was reported shortly after Trump left the G7 summit in Canada early to deal with the escalating crisis. Trump requested the National Security Council be on standby as soon as he landed back in Washington, D.C.
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In previous Situation Room meetings, the current intelligence and crisis information was discussed and shared with the National Security Council staff, the national security adviser, and the president, according to the Clinton White House archive.
The Situation Room has hosted many famous meetings that have shaped national and global events and policy.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Situation Room.
What is the Situation Room?
In 1961, after the Bay of Pigs invasion, President John F. Kennedy decided that he and future presidents needed a crisis management center and ordered the construction of a secure communications site.
The Situation Room, sometimes called the “sit room,” is located below the West Wing of the White House. The 5,500-square-foot space is equipped with advanced communications and information processing tools, making it a hub for national security officials to monitor and deal with national and foreign crises in real time.
Who attends the Situation Room?
The conference room’s staff is composed of 130 personnel, organized around five watch teams that provide 24/7 monitoring of international and domestic events, a travel support team, video operators, and communication technicians.
A handful of other officials could be needed in the Situation Room in addition to the president, National Security Council staff, and the national security adviser.
Depending on the situation, they include the secretary of state, secretary of defense, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the director of national intelligence, according to the Obama White House Archives.
What are the rules?
Only people with top-level security clearances, vetted by the U.S. Secret Service, are allowed in the Situation Room. All authorized people receive instruction on the rules and guidelines for appropriate conduct.
One of the main rules of the Situation Room is not to talk about what happened. In 2018, former Trump adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman was let go after secretly recording a Situation Room conversation.
According to Brett Bruen, a former Obama administration official, phones are prohibited within the room and should be kept in a locker outside.
All communications are monitored and encrypted.
Recent Situation Room meetings held by US presidents
Operation to kill Osama bin Laden
On May 1, 2011, a historic moment was captured in the Situation Room: “Operation Neptune Spear.” This was the plan for a U.S. Navy SEAL raid to kill Osama bin Laden.
Bin Laden was the founder of the terrorist organization al Qaeda, conducting many terrorist attacks, including 9/11.
When U.S. intelligence agencies finally determined where bin Laden might be, 10 years after the terrorist attacks, then-President Barack Obama and the national security team developed the operation.
In the photo, Obama, then-Vice President Joe Biden, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates, among others, sat around the conference table watching their operation play out.
“This was the first and only time as president that I’d watch a military operation unfold in real time,” Obama wrote after the meeting. He described waiting and watching the plan unfold as “excruciating.”
Russia’s takeover of Crimea
On March 3, 2014, Obama called for a meeting in the Situation Room, following crises between Ukraine and Russia.
After the meeting, the Defense Department announced that the U.S. will cease all military relations with Russia, due to its hostile takeover of Crimea.
Afterward, then-Secretary of State John Kerry left for Kyiv, Ukraine, to seek a diplomatic solution.
Killing of Abu Bakr al Baghadi: ISIS leader
On Oct. 27, 2019, Trump and his national security officials gathered in the White House to watch his operation to capture or kill the founder and leader of the Islamic State.
After trying to hunt down Baghadi for six years, U.S. analysts believed they had found him in Syria.
Compared to Obama’s raid that killed bin Laden, Trump was presented with different circumstances, since there weren’t any hostile forces nearby, as Trump received “consent” from the Russians and Turks to follow through. Trump said his biggest concern about the operation was getting Americans killed.
No American soldiers were injured.
“U.S. Special Operations Forces executed a dangerous and daring nighttime raid in northwestern Syria and accomplished their mission in grand style,” Trump wrote. “The U.S. personnel were incredible. I got to watch much of it.”
Drone strike killing Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani
On Jan. 3, 2020, an Iranian major general was killed by an American drone strike ordered by Trump in the Situation Room.
While this meeting wasn’t in the official Situation Room, Trump convened a make-shift assembly in one of Mar-a-Lago’s suites. He hosted advisers and Congress members to discuss a strike to take out the commander of Iran’s security and intelligence services.
In the meeting, intelligence showed multiple threats to Americans from Iran, leading to Trump deciding to authorize the strike. According to officials, a serious debate within the Trump administration occurred during the meeting.
“We took action last night to stop a war,” Trump said following the strike.
Trump was updated by aides in the following days with Iran updates.
Possible Iran attack on Israel
Biden returned to the White House a day early from his Rehoboth Beach house on April 13, 2024, to meet with top advisers in the Situation Room.
Biden previously said he was “devoted to the defense of Israel” and would “support Israel,” and after Biden heard an attack from Iran could happen sooner rather than later, he met with his staff.
In the meeting, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken, among others, discussed how to move forward.
This led to a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to Israel’s security.
Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal
On Sept. 2, 2024, Biden and Harris met in the Situation Room with the U.S. hostage deal negotiation team to discuss the murders of hostages held captive by Hamas.
In the meeting, Biden and Harris received a status update from the negotiation team for a proposal outlined by the U.S., Qatar, and Egypt. The group also discussed the next steps for successfully releasing the hostages.
What now?
While no information has been explicitly shared yet on how Trump is going to move forward with the current Israel-Iran crisis, Trump has posted on Truth Social, calling for Iran to have an “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.”
“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump wrote. “He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin.”
The Situation Room meeting started at 1 p.m. on Tuesday.