The Tank: Moving The Joint Chiefs Of Staff's Conference Room
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by: Alexander Mason
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Word Count: 411
Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2012 Time: 2:59 PM
During the second world war, in early 1942, the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff and United States-British Combined Chiefs of Staff's respective bodies moved into the US Public Building, which is situated in Washington, DC. Soon afterwards, the building's purpose was refocused and was given the new name of Combined Chiefs of Staff Building. It was in this building on 9th February 1942 that the Joint Chiefs of Staff first held their formal meeting on the second floor in a conference room which was to be used for the remainder of the war.
Initially, the room was referred to as the Presentation Room, although quickly it came to be known as 'The Tank'. Many have often tried to work out why the building was so called, but popular explanations based on first-hand accounts suggest that the nickname relates to the fact that the in order to access the main entrance to the room, officers had to navigate a series of stairs via an arched portico. To witness the clamour of officers negotiating the route was, apparently, akin to the scrambling of an officer into the hatch of an army tank. The rest as they say is history.
However, since the war ended in 1945, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Conference room has actually moved to several locations throughout the twenty-first century. In 1946, "The Tank" was situated in the New War Department Building (now the US Department of State building). By April 1947, the conference room had been moved to the Pentagon, where it subsequently moved around various locations on the second floor. For example, between April 1947 and October 1949, it was located on corridor 2, ring D. From there the conference room then moved to corridor 9 on ring C. Then in 1957, The Tank upped sticks to corridor 9, ring E.
As one of the world's most significant and secure locations- whether tangible or theoretical- "The Tank" has served the US and world governments at critical junctures throughout the checkered history of foreign diplomacy. For example, it is here where the United States security command assembles in order to strategise and coordinate their responses to national security threats, as well as formulate Emergency Action Messages (EAMs) to launch control centers, nuclear submarines, recon aircraft and battlefield commanders across the world. But perhaps the most enduring and compelling feature of The Tank is the fact that it has at one time or another been the focal point for some of the most important decisions ever made in modern history.
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