The White House released an official photograph of the meeting, which had been scheduled before the apparent massacre, on its Flickr stream. It shows the president at the head of the table in the basement nerve center’s main conference room, apparently addressing officials on various video-conference screens.

That Aug. 21 meeting highlights how the administration has been using a secure facility originally designed to manage the government response to natural disasters or terrorist attacks, or oversee military operations, for purposes unrelated to national security.

Obama’s days since then have been consumed with plotting the American response to Syrian strongman Bashar Assad’s actions, with a death toll Washington has set at about 1,400 civilians. Several of the president's discussions, taking place in the Situation Room with grim-faced national security aides, also appear on the official White House Flickr stream.