FAA Memo: Feds Knew NYC Flyover Would Cause Panic

[festus]

FAA Memo: Feds Knew NYC Flyover Would Cause Panic
Threatened Federal Sanctions Against NYPD, Secret Service, FBI & Mayor's Office If Secret Ever Got Out
Furious Obama Apologizes: "It Will Never Happen Again"
CBS News Interactive: Sept. 11 And Since Reporting
FAA Memo: Feds Knew NYC Flyover Would Cause Panic - wcbstv.com
Marcia Kramer NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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An F-16 fighter jet trails a larger military aircraft over Lower Manhattan Monday, April 27, 2009, conducting a photo shoot that panicked thousands of New Yorkers who believed the city was in jeopardy for another terrorist attack.
Christopher Talbot, WCBS-AM Listener

A furious President Barack Obama ordered an internal review of Monday's low-flying photo op over the Statue of Liberty.

CBS 2 HD has discovered the feds will have plenty to question.

Federal officials knew that sending two fighter jets and Air Force One to buzz ground zero and Lady Liberty might set off nightmarish fears of a 9/11 replay, but they still ordered the photo-op kept secret from the public.

In a memo obtained by CBS 2 HD the Federal Aviation Administration's James Johnston said the agency was aware of "the possibility of public concern regarding DOD (Department of Defense) aircraft flying at low altitudes" in an around New York City. But they demanded total secrecy from the NYPD, the Secret Service, the FBI and even the mayor's office and threatened federal sanctions if the secret got out.

What are your feelings on federal officials demanding the NYC flyover be kept secret by the NYPD and the mayor's office?

"To say that it should not be made public knowing that it might scare people it's just confounding," Sen. Charles Schumer said. "It's what gives Washington and government a bad name. It's sheer stupidity."

The flyover -- apparently ordered by the White House Office of Military Affairs so it would have souvenir photos of Air Force One with the Statue of Liberty in the background -- had President Obama seeing red. He ordered a probe and apologized.

"It was a mistake. It will never happen again," President Obama said.

The NYPD was so upset about the demand for secrecy that Police Commissioner Ray Kelly vowed never to follow such a directive again and he accused the feds of inciting fears of a 9/11 replay.

"Did it show an insensitivity to the psychic wounds New York City has after 9/11? Absolutely. No questions about it. It was quite insensitive," Kelly said.

The cost of the frivolous flight was about $60,000 an hour and that was just for Air Force One. That doesn't include the cost of the two F-16s that came along.

The mayoral aide who neglected to tell Mayor Michael Bloomberg about it was reprimanded.

[Scarecrow]

well obviously the government doesn't care if the public are afraid... in fact I think they prefer it that way.

[HK4U]

Originally Posted by Scarecrow

well obviously the government doesn't care if the public are afraid... in fact I think they prefer it that way.

+1. What a really stupid thing to do.

[Ceicei]

Would the outcome be different had they informed the public far in advance of what would happen, what time this would occur, and the exact locations? Would the panic be any less because the public would know to expect this?

- Ceicei

[Oregon Vet]

How stupid. They should have put an ad/story in all the papers and had it on TV:

Attention Terrorists: Air Force One and a couple of F16s will be flying really REALLY LOW & SLOW over all parts of NYC on such and such a date. Now is your chance to bring down one or all three of them right onto NYC streets because they will be going SLOW and LOW for photo ops. So, get up on your favorite roof top with your Stingers or whatever other things you have and have at them!

They will be flying slower than 200mph, so you can probably hit them with your favorite rifle. Make sure you are there on such and such a date. Just think how much prestige you would gain if you can blast one of them out of the NYC skys!

Oh, wait, wait, WAIT. That might not be a good idea, putting that in all the papers and all over the TV. Some of those terrorists living in NYC might just have found it too hard to resist trying to down them.

Am I reading the posts correctly? That the people posting we should tell everyone in advance, like the Senator and Police Commissioner did, explain things to them and then say to them, hop on, you can ride along with us, see if any terrorists take a shot at us. Then would they think we should put the information in the papers and on TV so terrorists CAN make plans to try to down a plane? How many terrorists right now are talking, saying "Dang, if we had just known IN ADVANCE that they were going to fly them so slow and low we could have..."

Nice head line in the paper and on TV. Terrorist speaking "They told us two weeks in advance that Air Force One would be flying low and slow right over NYC, what a wonderful opportunity for us, we were able to drop Air Force One right onto Wall Street, killing hundreds of people, destroying airplanes costing millions of dollars, how sweet it is. We just LOVE the Americans, always telling us on TV and the paper what they are going to be doing... the fools."

The photo op was probably a bad idea, the not telling anyone before hand just may have saved us a few million dollars in planes and people so the not telling was a good idea.

[wolfhunter]

Telling the public that a flight would occur would've been a good idea. They wouldn't have to specify who, why, or a specific schedule, just a simple, "The Air Force will be taking low-level photos of the city on ddmm would have allayed a lot of fears."

[utimmer43]

I don't think the whole thing was necessary to begin with. What pictures did they snap that they couldn't "create" with Photoshop?

[Mr. Vegas]

our tax dollars hard at work...60.000 an hour + the price of two fighter jets whichn I don't even want to know how much that costs + several professional photagraphers....all for a photo of a plane we allready have millions of photos of...maybey they're trying to generate enough money to pay off the national debt with souvenir photo's hahaha

Seems real important to me to have updated pics of a god-damn airplane right now with everything else going on...what a F'n waste.

Another question wouldn.t it have been more cost effective to just photoshopm the damn plane into the picture..I'm sure they have a whole department that can doctor photos

[FN1910]

Originally Posted by Ceicei

Would the outcome be different had they informed the public far in advance of what would happen, what time this would occur, and the exact locations? Would the panic be any less because the public would know to expect this?

- Ceicei

Wouldn't have been any different. Years ago NBC did a show about a terrorist nuclear bomb on a sub in the Charleston, SC harbor much like Orson Well's "War of the worlds" broadcast. They did it exactly like a newscast making it as realistic as possible. Before and after every commercial they repeated that it was not real but only a simulation. The Charleston station even ran a message on the screen constantly telling people that it wasn't real. NBC and the Charleston station still received thousands of phone calls from people panicing believing that the terrorist had forced the stations to put up the disclaimer.

All notifying the public does is CYA when the public is terrified. Look as how many people did not know TV stations were suposed to cut over to digital back in Feb. It was kep so quite by the Bush administration that it took everyone by surprised and had to be postponed by BHO.

The bigger question is like someone said, why not a photoshop instead of probably a $million picture. Maybe he was just trying to stimulate the economy.

[ScottNY]

On the bright side, it is a good wakeup call to complacent new yorkers..