Defense Department releases photos from New York City Presidential plane flyover
From Sunshine Review
July 31, 2009 The Department of Defense released previously withheld photos from the unapproved 27 April Air Force One flyover of the Statue of Liberty.[1]
[edit] Photos
On Friday, July 31, the Department of Defense released the 146 photos of the photo-op that caused some panic in New York City. The flyover was not cleared with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the rest of the public was uninformed as well, especially with the memory of September 11th's attacks looming.
The White House had released one photo in May, prompting Freedom of Information Act requests for more photos from 40 organizations, including Fox News. Fox also requested records that would shed light on the decision not to notify the media or the public, to which the FAA responded by withholding a some of the documents because they were exempted from FOIA's mandatory public disclosure requirement due to the "sensitive security information" and information about the "deliberative process" they contained.[1]
[edit] The flyover
The flight of the 747, known as Air Force One when the President is on it unlike that day, in April was to update the photo stock of the Presidential plane as well as for training purposes.
The President called for a review after saying he was "furious" about the event. This led to White House Military Office's Director Louis Caldera's resignation.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told the press, "The President instructed the staff to ensure that [this type of incident] doesn't happen again."
This sort of training mission would not normally be reported in the high ranks of command, but the administration implied that common sense in an area formerly plagued by a plane-related tragedy should have directed this decision otherwise.
Photo-ops of the Presidential plane over national landmarks are typical, but they will need to be more clearly publicized, to an extent.[1]
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