Air Force One photo op over N.Y. Harbor came without warning, Corzine says

by Clair Heininger/Statehouse Bureau

AP Photo/Jason McLaneIn this image, taken with a cell phone by Jason McLane, the primary presidential aircraft, a Boeing 747 known as Air Force One when the president is aboard, flies low over New York Harbor, followed by an F-16 chase plane during a federal government photo op today.

Calling Monday's choreographed flight of a presidential aircraft around the Statue of Liberty "really bad judgment," Gov. Jon Corzine said he and other New Jersey officials were not informed ahead of time about the low-flying planes past the New York skyline that set off a panic on both sides of New York Harbor on Monday.

Corzine said the state is determined to learn more about the "photo op" that led thousands of workers -- still haunted by the memories of 9/11 -- to flee their high-rise office buildings at the unexpected sight of the huge, low-flying passenger jet over the Hudson River.

Charles Dharapak/APPresident Obama on Feb. 4, 2009 in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington.

"We'll actually push forward all the way to the White House if we have to," the governor told reporters today after reading to schoolchildren in Ewing. "I find it really bad judgment on somebody's part, and it's unacceptable."

President Barack Obama today ordered an internal review to determine how the decision was made to send of one of his official airplanes, accompanied by a single Air Force F-16, on a low-flying photo op past the New York City skyline.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said today 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.

Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-LedgerGov. Jon Corzine at the State House in Trenton on Jan. 13, 2009.

Corzine said he has yet to find a New Jersey official informed in advance about the flight, which he called out of sync with "understandable anxiety that people in the metropolitan area have on both sides of the river."

An FAA spokesman has said the flyover "was approved and coordinated with everyone," with notifications made to the New York City Police Department, the mayor's office, the New Jersey State Police, and other agencies.

However, a confidential security memo that went out last week by the FAA's Air Traffic System Operations Security office -- while acknowledging "the possibility of public concern regarding Department of Defense aircraft flying at low levels," instructed that all information about the flight be kept confidential and not be released to the public or media.

"The information in this document is considered FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY, and should only be shared with persons with a need to know," the memo declared.

An Obama administration official has said the flyover was done because the White House Military Office wanted to update its file photo of the president's plane near the Statue of Liberty.