Doh! What Were They Thinking?: Air Force One “Photo Op” In NYC

DUMB: “Jet Flyover Frightens New Yorkers,” by A.G. Sulzberger and Matthew. Ward, New York Times, 28 April 2009

It was supposed to be a photo opportunity, a showcase of Air Force One alongside the sweep of New York City skyline.

Other images of the plane, taken at picturesque sites like Mount Rushmore, are sold as souvenirs and used in promotional materials.

Witnesses described the engine roar as the planes swooped by office towers close enough to rattle the windows and prompt evacuations at scores of buildings. Some sobbed as they made their way to the street.

“We ran like hell.”

Obviously, the folks in the Air Force and at the White House Military Office were not thinking.

Hmm, let’s see…let’s take a large aircraft and conduct a low altitude flight through downtown Manhattan – site of the worst American terrorist attack in history, which, by the way was perpetrated by terrorists flying large airplanes. Oh, and let’s keep it a secret, telling only one person in the mayor’s office and the New York City Police Department – further, telling them that they can only tell folks with a “need to know.”

What a colossally BAD idea.

I could understand the secrecy and “need to know” caveats if the president was actually on the aircraft, but some Air Force flunky pilot followed by an F-16…!? Where is the need for secrecy here?

I think the Air Force just missed an opportunity for some great publicity. Why not tell everyone you are flying Air Force One (It’s actually only Air Force One when the president is aboard, but why get technical?) over the city for a photo op? Get all of NYC out on the side walks to greet you and take pictures. What a great recruiting tool.

Had this been Marine One (the presidents helicopter), USMC probably would have purchased billboards advertising the event, offered a battalion of Marines in dress uniform for crowd control, and had recruiters signing up new recruits all over the city.

But, that’s why the Marines are the Marines and the Air Force…well, they are not the Marines.

Photo courtesy of New York Times and Jim Brown

More Government 2.0 Musings

Government 2.0: "Military Blocks Its Own 'YouTube' Knockoff (Updated Again)," by Noah Shachtman, Wired , 17 March 2009; and "Government 2.0 Meets Catch 22," Saul Hansell, New York Times, 17 March 2009

These two articles sum up nicely what I have been lamenting for a while. In the Wired article Shachtman writes that some military units have blocked a website called TroopTube, which was created by the DoD. Incidently, TroopTube was created becasue the DoD banned YouTube!

An Air Force civilain told Wireds' Danger Room, "You know, it's bad enough they don't trust us with the 'real' internet and social media sites. Why don't they they trust us with the sites they invent?"

Shachctman also details the difficulty the military has had in controlling use and access to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

"The military has struggled, since social media began, to figure out how exactly troops should be allowed to participate -- if at all. Network administrators at Air Force bases already put strict limitations on what sites their troops can and cannot visit. Many airmen can't access Danger Room, for example — or any site with the word "blog" in the URL. Army secrecy regulations, read literally, make it next-to-impossible for average soldiers to blog. Yet leading generals, deployed to war zones, are keeping online journals. The Pentagon employs an in-house video blogger. And the Department of Defense press office is making a concerted push to reach out to bloggers and non-traditional media."

The Hansell New York Times article discusses some of these same problems, but from the perspective of other non-DoD government agencies.

"Organizations of all sorts have been trying to figure out how they can adapt social networks, blogs, wiki’s and other Web tools to their traditional operating methods in order to connect to customers and partners."

"But it is tough. “We have a Facebook page,” said one official of the Department of Homeland Security. “But we don’t allow people to look at Facebook in the office. So we have to go home to use it. I find this bizarre.”"

Come on guys! There are a ton of smart people in the government, can't we figure out how to make this stuff accessible!?

For other postings from me on this subject see the below:
The DoD: Lumbering Through the IT Revolution
Cyber Attacks on Government Networks and Web 2.0