The signal-blocking technology was in need of modernizing in the era of high-tech sparring with China and Russia. Computer monitors and servers that seemed modern in 2006 - the year before the iPhone was announced - had become old and creaky. It was the intelligence arms race that led the president to approve the upgrade. Last upgraded in 2006, the room and the surrounding offices have been closed for a year while contractors gutted the old facility and carried out a complete overhaul. The walls, built from sustainably harvested wood, hide what officials say are the most sophisticated technologies in the American arsenal for keeping the room secure. It also listed POTUS, so aides can always know the time wherever the president may be. A world clock listed the current times for cities including Tehran and Kyiv. “You constantly enhance to keep up with foreign adversaries.”ĭuring a tour for several journalists on Thursday, a panel built into one wall glowed bright green, with the word “UNCLASSIFIED” and the phrase “MICS OFF,” indicating that the room was not being monitored at that moment. “This was enhanced to the highest standard,” said Marc Gustafson, the senior director for the White House Situation Room, who oversaw the renovation.
In the windowless basement, one floor down from the Oval Office, the president’s oversize swivel chair faces three huge screens that he can consult while overseeing covert operations around the world. To walk into the heart of the refurbished Situation Room, which got its nickname from the acronym WHSR, feels a bit like entering the set of a Hollywood thriller. The White House Situation Room, the ultrasecure facility known to West Wing insiders simply as “the whizzer,” has undergone a $50 million renovation, with sophisticated communications equipment and technology to prevent American adversaries from listening in.
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