ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Situation Room (photograph)

Okay, kiddo, so you know how when important people need to make decisions, they often gather together to talk about it? Well, the Situation room is a special room where the most important people in the United States government get together during times of crisis.

This room is where they come up with plans to help our country in really tough situations, like natural disasters or attacks. The people who are in the room are the President, Vice President, and other people who work for them and are experts in things like military, intelligence, and homeland security.

Now, sometimes the President needs to let people know what's going on in the Situation Room, like during the raid that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. In order to do that, the President staged a photograph where he was sitting at the head of the table in the Situation Room, surrounded by all of the important people who were helping make decisions.

The photograph shows how seriously they were all taking the situation and how hard they were working to make sure our country was safe. So, that's basically what the Situation Room is and why the photograph is important - it shows how our government comes together in times of crisis to try and make the best decisions they can.