Nerve Center: Inside the White House Situation Room Book

Includes dozens of personal reminiscences and anecdotes from presidents, national security advisors, and other officials connected with the Situation Room Provides an insider?s account of how the Situation Room functions and serves the president and his advisors during crises Recounts the part played by the Situation Room in such pivotal events as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, and the war on terrorism The White House Situation Room is arguably the most important facility in the most important building in the world. As the president?s intelligence and alert center, it provides vital communication and crisis management capabilities to the chief executive and his advisors. It can also be "an island of calm," as a top advisor for Vice President Gore once described it. So little is known about the Situation Room that, until the publication of Nerve Center, the American public?s knowledge of it is almost entirely based on its portrayal by the entertainment industry. Yet, as Michael K. Bohn points out, Hollywood has failed to capture the real drama of the Situation Room. Numerous crises come alive in Nerve Center, from the Vietnam War (when President Johnson made late night visits to the Situation Room wearing his pajamas and went so often that he moved his Oval Office chair there), to the attempted assassination of President Reagan, to today?s hi-tech war on terrorism. Created in the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs fiasco by advisors to President Kennedy, presidents, cabinet members, and National Security Council staff members have all come to depend on the Situation Room. "I knew that I could always rely on the Situation Room," President Carter recalled, "and it never let me down." Bohn, who served as director of the Situation Room for the first President Bush, has recruited numerous officials, including former and current staff, to tell the colorful forty-year history of the Situation Room. In a final chapter, Bohn uses a fictional crisis to describe how the Situation Room will evolve to help the president meet the challenges of an increasingly dangerous future.Read More