Las Vegas Sun

February 12, 2012

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Sun editorial:

Dumb and dumber

There can be no excuse for authorizing low flight over New York City that terrified people

Wednesday, April 29, 2009 | 2:06 a.m.

We looked up synonyms for stupid and found words like dumb, foolish and irrational. All of those would apply to the decision Monday authorizing a Boeing 747 and a fighter jet to fly low over Manhattan, Staten Island and Jersey City, N.J.

How anyone could authorize a stunt like that, and compound the idiocy with an order to keep it secret from the public, is beyond all comprehension.

Even more stunning is that the authorization came from a man, Louis Caldera, who graduated from West Point and Harvard Law School and served three years as Army secretary.

Caldera authorized the “aerial photo mission” last week in his capacity as director of the White House Military Office. The Boeing 747 involved is one of two planes used by President Barack Obama. When the president is aboard, it is known as Air Force One — a distinction that people working in skyscrapers could hardly be expected to make when they saw and heard it roaring by their windows, rattling the glass.

With memories of 9/11 still nightmarishly fresh, many office workers fled down flights of stairs and burst into the streets. “We ran like hell,” one worker told The New York Times.

Authorization was given so that photos could be taken of the plane with scenery in the background. Information about the flight was ordered shared only with those “with a need to know,” and that did not include the “public or the media.”

Among those also assumed to have no need to know were New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and President Obama. Both were furious over what happened. Obama apologized and ordered an internal review of the incident.

However this happened, there is just no excuse for it.

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