Inside the newly-revamped White House Situation Room

President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan has given ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos a rare tour of the White House Situation Room following its $50m revamp.

The makeover of the nerve centre of the West Wing – which was first opened in 1961 and where every president from John F Kennedy to Mr Biden have overseen some of the toughest moments of their tenures – was completed last October, greatly enhancing the room’s security and technological capability.

Mr Sullivan told Mr Stephanopoulos, who has just authored a new book chronicling presidential crises handled within the facility’s walls, that, contrary to popular belief, the 5,500 square foot Situation Room in the basement of the White House is actually a vast complex comprising multiple rooms.

The adviser detailed the workings of the Watch Floor, where civilian and military experts monitor events around the world on a bank of glowing monitors 24/7 and put in a call to the president or his top aides whenever a developing situation requires their immediate attention, which could come at any time of the day or night.

“When you see the number from the Situation Room at 3am, it’s not usually to update you on good news, I would say,” Mr Sullivan joked.

He went on to explain the facility’s use as a venue for secure video conferences, explaining that Mr Biden had made it his base from which to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 with his fellow world leaders and to coordinate their response.

“He uses this room not just to make decisions but to do diplomacy, to build and execute coalitions and alliances and so a lot of the history that is written day to day in American foreign policy is lived out in this room,” Mr Sullivan said.

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