FCC: White House Seeks Local TV Feeds For Situation Room

The Federal Communications Commission is currently working with the White House and media companies to find a way to feed local TV station signals into the White House's situation room, the command and control nerve center in the West Wing that was given a high-tech makeover in 2006. A FCC spokesperson says that the feeds could be helpful in emergencies and natural disasters in, say, "some city that is 700 miles away." She pointed out that "it is often the local broadcaster that first gives any details" in situations where the White House's own people "may not be in Des Moines at that moment."