President Obama is meeting privately this afternoon with the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the White House, his seventh meeting with advisers to consider whether to expand or scale back the mission in Afghanistan, and by how much.

It was his second meeting with the Joint Chiefs as a group, representing each branch of the military, said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. Gibbs said Friday’s meeting was not necessarily the last the president would hold, and that there could be another next week. Still, Gibbs said of the review, “I think it's nearing its conclusion.”

The president and Joint Chiefs were to discuss Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s assessment and request for an additional 40,000 troops. “I think that force strength, the health of the force, is certainly a topic that will come up,” Gibbs said shortly before the closed-door meeting began. “Their views on the assessment will come up.”

As for how and when the president will share his conclusions with the American people, Gibbs said the White House had not yet discussed that in detail but that Obama “strongly believes that it's important for the American people and for the international community to know his reasoning behind whatever decision he makes and to clearly explain our goals and objectives in Afghanistan and in Pakistan _ and the region as a whole. So I anticipate that, whatever form it ultimately takes, the president will use the occasion to explain some of that to the American people so that they understand his decision-making and his thought process."

“We will not meet in perpetuity on this,” Gibbs said. “But the president believes that we're still assessing the information that he needs to make that final decision.”

The following officials were expected to attend, according to the White House:

Vice President Joe Biden; Secretary of Defense Robert Gates; National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones; Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; General James E. Cartwright, USMC, Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; General George W. Casey, Chief of Staff of the Army; General James T. Conway, Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps; Admiral Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations; General Norton A. Schwartz, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force; deputy national security adviser Tom Donilon; John Brennan, assistant to the president for counterterrorism and homeland security; and Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, special assistant to the president for Afghanistan and Pakistan.