White House Blunder - Low-flying plane over Staten Island and New York Harbor sparks fears of terror attack

Invoking fears that another terrorist attack was underway, a low-flying plane, closely escorted by two F-16 fighter jets, was spotted over Staten Island's North Shore and New York Harbor just before 10 a.m.

Update from USA TODAY:
The head of White House Military Office has apologized for rattling — and angering — New Yorkers with a low flyover by an Air Force One backup.

The Boeing 747 jet, accompanied by two F-16 fighters, swooped over New York Harbor so Air Force photographers could take pictures. The 30-minute morning flight conjured up memories of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and prompted evacuations of some offices.

“I thought, ‘Oh, hell,’ that it was 9/11 all over again,” Kate Geraghty, a Verizon Communications Inc. sales executive who saw the airplane from Jersey City, N.J., told Bloomberg News. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, this plane is going to crash.’”

Louis E. Caldera, director of the White House Military Office, issued an apology this afternoon.

"Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision," he 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."

Aides said that President Obama was mad and that senior administration officials let Caldera know during an afternoon meeting, The New York Times says.

Caldera was secretary of the Army under President Clinton from 1998 until 2001.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wondered about the wisdom of the photo-op.
“Why the Defense Department wanted to do a photo op right around the site of the World Trade Center catastrophe defies imagination,” Bloomberg said at a City Hall news conference.