White House unveils sleek new Situation Room weeks after cocaine discovery

WASHINGTON – The White House on Friday released photos of the renovated Situation Room, giving a glimpse of the highly secure area near where a small amount of cocaine was found over the summer.

Photos show the complex of specially wired rooms on the ground floor of the West Wing, both after its completion on August 16 and during the subsequent presidential inauguration on September 5.

The main conference room’s drab beige walls and simple pegboard table were replaced with dramatic dark wood wall paneling and an ornate chevron-patterned pegboard table with light and dark bands.

The remodeled conference room, where presidents have monitored global crises and daring missions such as the 2011 assassination of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, also features new black leather seats with matching placemats and television screens on the sides. walls.

A dimly lit operations center is shown adjacent to the main room with two rows of desks with computers and phones. The dramatic deep blue ceiling lighting and backlit images of the nation’s Great Seal on the walls resemble the staging of command centers on national security-themed television shows.

Biden was photographed cutting a ribbon following a year-long total renovation of the roughly 5,500-square-foot area created in 1961 at the direction of John F. Kennedy following the Bay of Pigs fiasco.

The grand reopening of the Situation Room comes after an embarrassing controversy involving cocaine found July 2 in a cubicle outside the secure area.
In this image provided by the White House, President Joe Biden stands in the reception area as he attends the ribbon cutting of the renovated White House Situation Room, Sept. 5, 2023, in the West Wing of the White House. White House in Washington.  The approximately square foot highly secure complex of conference rooms and offices in the west wing has undergone a comprehensive renovation that took a year to complete.President Biden stands in the reception area while attending the ribbon cutting of the renovated Situation Room of the White House, September 5, 2023.AP

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In one photo, Biden holds a wooden presidential seal with Situation Room director Marc Gustafson.

The Situation Room is located beneath the White House chief of staff’s office in the southwest corner of the West Wing. The Oval Office is one floor above the Situation Room in the southeast corner of the West Wing.

The grand reopening of the Situation Room comes after an embarrassing controversy involving white powder found July 2 in a cubicle outside the secure area.

The Secret Service closed its investigation into the matter on July 13 without conducting any interviews with the possible culprits, saying there were “hundreds of people who passed through the lobby.”

The Situation Room before renovations in February 2022.The Situation Room before renovations in February 2022.White House
In this image provided by the White House, people sit at desks on the "surveillance floor," a 24/7 operations center in the newly renovated House Situation Room complex Blanca on August 16, 2023, in Washington.The Situation Room is located beneath the White House chief of staff’s office in the southwest corner of the West Wing.AP

The president’s two adult children have allegedly used cocaine in the past.

A friend tried to sell a video of first daughter Ashley Biden allegedly snorting the drug in 2009, and first son Hunter’s abandoned laptop contains photos of him with crack and cocaine paraphernalia.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in July called speculation that a member of the first family could have been involved in leaving cocaine in one of the safest areas in the world “irresponsible.” even though the president’s relatives were visiting the place. executive mansion on the Friday before the discovery of the drugs on Sunday.

The White House released the images as the president arrived in India to attend the annual G-20 summit this weekend.

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Source: vtt.edu.vn

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