Story highlights Both the meeting and press conference that followed were staged to draw a stark contrast with Trump

Clinton has pointed to her four years as secretary of state as one of her major qualifications

(CNN) Standing in front of a row of American flags and white pillars resembling those at the White House, Hillary Clinton touted support from national security leaders, reminded the country of her role in killing Osama bin Laden, and chastised -- with a touch of theatrical flare -- her Republican opponent as clueless and entirely out of his element.

With this one brief press conference, Clinton signaled loud and clear: I've done this before.

Just two months out from Election Day with the race between Clinton and Donald Trump tightening, the former secretary of state's meeting on Friday with a bipartisan group of foreign policy experts and the press conference that followed demonstrated the increasing prominence of national security in the 2016 campaign.

Seizing an opening after a string of gaffes this week left Trump vulnerable, Clinton told reporters here that the 2016 election is the "most important in our lifetime" that calls for "rational, confident and even-keeled leadership."

"No conversation about our national security would be complete unless we acknowledged that the nominee on the other side promises to do things that will make us less safe," Clinton said. "National security experts on both sides of the aisle are chilled by what they're hearing from the Republican nominee."

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