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Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Ex-UNM President Ordered Flyover
By Michael Coleman
Journal Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — It didn't take long for former University of New Mexico President Louis Caldera to make headlines in his new job, taking responsibility Monday for terrifying New Yorkers with a government photo op gone wrong.
Caldera, director of the White House Military Office, apologized for a federal flyover fiasco in lower Manhattan that sent New Yorkers into the streets in fear of another 9/11-style attack.
A Boeing 747 — called Air Force One when the president is on board — trailed by a pair of Air Force F-16 fighter jets cruised low over the city's skyline as part of a government photo opportunity and training mission authorized by Caldera.
Caldera was hired by Obama in December, a little over two years after he was forced out of the president's job at UNM.
"Last week, I approved a mission over New York," Caldera said in a statement issued by the White House. "I take responsibility for that decision. 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."
'Poor judgment'
A White House official told the Journal the president was "furious" when he learned of the episode and there were reports that Caldera was called on the presidential carpet.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a news conference that he was angry at city officials who had been notified but didn't tell him about the exercise. The mayor said he would have tried to prevent the flyover if he had known about it.
"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 way to phrase it."
An administration official told the Journal the flyover was designed to get a new picture of Air Force One.
"They wanted to update their file photo of it (Air Force One) with the Statue of Liberty," the official said.
The FAA notified New York police, but with an admonition that the public shouldn't be notified, The Associated Press reported.
'Total panic'
John Leitner, a floor trader at the New York Mercantile Exchange Building, said about 1,000 people "went into a total panic" and ran out of the building around 10 a.m. after seeing the planes fly by their building, near the World Trade Center site.
"Apparently, nobody in the building was informed that this was going to happen," he told the AP. "Everyone panicked, as you can certainly understand."
He said the workers gathered along the Hudson River until a security officer with a bullhorn told them it was planned.
Caldera served as U.S. Army secretary under President Clinton and became UNM president in 2003. As director of the White House Military Office, he coordinates all military support for the White House. He oversees Air Force One, Marine One, Camp David and all overseas presidential visits.
Caldera's resignation as UNM president — announced in January 2006 and effective in August 2006 — was not without controversy. The university agreed to pay him more than $700,000 by July 2007 under an agreement that led to his resignation.
Caldera resigned amid signs that his relationship with regents had deteriorated after 30 months on the job. At the time, regents would not comment in detail about the resignation, nor would Caldera. The agreement prohibited both parties from making comments "that disparage the other or tend to harm the reputation or good standing in the community of the other."
Caldera graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He received degrees in law and business from Harvard University in 1987 before practicing in Los Angeles. His expertise is in the areas of corporate, banking and public finance law.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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