Obama: New York City flyover was mistake

updated 6:18 p.m. ET April 28, 2009

NEW YORK - President Barack Obama has ordered an internal review to determine how the decision was made to send of one of his official airplanes on a low-flying photo op past the New York City skyline.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday that deputy chief of staff Jim Messina will lead the review. Gibbs said the point is to determine "why that decision was made and to ensure that it never happens again."

Gibbs said Obama was "furious" when he heard about the incident. Obama has called it a mistake.

On Monday, one of the Boeing 747s used by Obama and an F-16 jet circled the Statue of Liberty at the start of the work day, startling workers in lower Manhattan who feared a nightmarish replay of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Gibbs said that the review would likely take about a week or so to complete. He said he would have to confer with White House lawyers before answering a question about whether the results would be made public.

The director of the White House military office, Louis Caldera, took the blame for the incident in a statement Monday.

Besides calling it a mistake, Obama said Tuesday, "It was something we found out about along with all of you. And it will not happen again."

No word on staffer's future
He did not respond to a question about whether the White House staffer who organized the flyover should keep his job.

For a half-hour, the Boeing 747 and F-16 jet circled the Statue of Liberty and the lower Manhattan skyline near the World Trade Center site. Offices evacuated. Dispatchers were inundated with calls. Witnesses thought the planes were flying dangerously low.

The flyover was one of a series of flights to get pictures of the plane in front of national landmarks.

It was carried out by the Defense Department with little warning, infuriating New York officials and putting the White House on the defense. Even Mayor Michael Bloomberg didn't know about it, and he later called it "insensitive" to fly so near the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision," Caldera said in a statement. "While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, it's clear that the mission created confusion and disruption. I apologize and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused."

Liberty photo op
Still, federal officials provided few details and wouldn't say why the public and area building security managers weren't notified. They also wouldn't address why someone thought it was a wise decision to send two jets into New York City, all for a few photos with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop.

An Air Force combat photographer took pictures from one of the fighter jets, administration officials said.

The photo op was combined with a training exercise to save money, according to another administration official who also spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak publicly about the behind-the-scenes discussions about the flight.

The FAA notified the New York Police Department of the flyover, telling them photos of the Air Force One jet would be taken about 1,500 feet above the Statue of Liberty around 10 a.m. Monday. It had a classified footnote that said "information in this document shall not be released to the public or the media."

"Why the Defense Department wanted to do a photo op right around the site of the World Trade Center catastrophe defies the imagination," Bloomberg said. "Poor judgment would be a nice ways to phrase it. ... Had I known about it, I would have called them right away and asked them not to."

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