Situation Room
Photographer: Pete Souza
Date: May 1, 2011
Location: White House Situation Room, Washington, D.C., USA
White House photographer Pete Souza photographed President Barack Obama and his national security team, including Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and other senior officials, gathered in the cramped White House Situation Room watching live intelligence feeds from the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 1, 2011. The operation, carried out by SEAL Team Six, killed bin Laden — the founder of al-Qaeda and the mastermind of the September 11 attacks. The image captures genuine tension; Clinton's hand is raised to her mouth in a gesture widely noted. The photograph was released to the public shortly after the operation was announced and became one of the most famous political photographs of the Obama administration. In 2019, Souza revealed that the team was watching video from a drone, not the live raid feed.
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