The White House Situation Room through the years

The White House Situation Room has served the president and his national security staff in a variety of ways since the 1960s.

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March 17, 1961

The White House Situation room is used for a Naval Aide's Breakfast.

Robert Knudsen / John F. Kennedy Presidential Library

Feb. 15, 1968

National Security Adviser Walt Rostow shows President Lyndon B. Johnson a model of the Khe Sanh area of Vietnam.

Yoichi Okamoto / National Archives

April 15, 1986

President Ronald Reagan is briefed by the National Security Council staff on an airstrike in Libya.

Courtesy of Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

Dec. 19, 2006

The Situation Room was overhauled in 2006, getting flat-screen televisions for secure videoconferences and technology linking it to military operations and prime ministers around the world.

Ron Edmonds / AP

Jan. 4, 2007

President George W. Bush participates in a secure video teleconference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in 2007.

Eric Draper / AP

May 18, 2007

The newly renovated Situation Room includes a secure telephone in a soundproof booth.

Charles Dharapak / AP

May 18, 2007

In times of emergency, the Situation Room becomes a crisis-management center.

Charles Dharapak / AP

May 18, 2007

A clock shows the times of the location of President George W. Bush, local time and Baghdad.

Charles Dharapak / AP

May 18, 2007

This is the view from the president's chair in the newly renovated Situation Room.

Charles Dharapak / AP

April 28, 2009

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius is briefed on swine flu by John Brennan, assistant to the president for homeland security.

Pete Souza / AP

May 1, 2011

President Obama, Vice President Biden and members of the national security team receive an update on the mission in Pakistan that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. This image was released and digitally altered by the White House to diffuse the paper in front of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Pete Souza / AP

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In this image released by the Miss Universe Organization, Miss Washington USA 2012, Christina Clarke; Miss West Virginia USA 2012, Andrea Rogers; and Miss Wisconsin USA 2012, Emily Guerin compete in their swimwear by Kooey Australia and fashion footwear by Chinese Laundry during the 2012 Miss USA Presentation Show on May 30, 2012 at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino Theatre for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 2012 MISS USA Pageant will air LIVE on NBC June 3 at 9:00 p.m. ET from the Theatre for Performing Arts in Las Vegas. = RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT 'AFP PHOTO / Miss Universe Organization / DARREN DECKER' - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS =DARREN DECKER/AFP/GettyImages

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Police investigate the scene where a man who was believed to have shot and killed several people earlier in the day shot himself Wednesday, May 30, 2012, in the West Seattle neighborhood of Seattle. A gunman opened fire at a Seattle cafe earlier Wednesday, killing three people and critically wounding two others and later a man believed to be the same suspect shot and killed a woman and took her car near downtown, abandoning it less than two miles from where the alleged shooter shot himself as officers closed in on him, authorities said. His condition wasn't immediately known. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

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Camels rest at a watering hole outside the town of Aleg May 25, 2012. REUTERS/Joe Penney (MAURITANIA - Tags: ANIMALS SOCIETY)

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HANDOUT PHOTO: Camera men film as the Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft carrying the International Space Station (ISS) crew, U.S. astronaut Joseph Acaba and Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin, blasts off from it's launch pad at Baikonur cosmodrome, May 15, 2012. (Courtesy of Shamil Zhumatov/ADAY.org)

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