Whose idea was it to not inform the public when authorizing an extremely low-flying airliner to fly over the Hudson River near lower Manhattan? Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Air Force, New York State or city officials? Or perhaps a better question is, who had responsibility to inform the public, and who dropped the ball?

The Wall Street Journal has posted some of the first video of the flight . . .

. . . tell me that wouldn’t make you think of 9/11 if you were witnessing it live. Several buildings were evacuated as a precaution.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs just told reporters he had absolutely no information on the matter.

UPDATE: Amazing. Apparently word never reached Mayor Mike Bloomberg. I have my beefs with the man, but I very much agree with his assessment today:

“To think that the FAA would plan such a photo shoot and not warn the public, knowing full well that New Yorkers still have the vivid memory of 9/11 etched in their minds,” he said.
“In New York, of all places, to not warn the public that one of the largest jets in the county tailed
by a fighter jet is going to fly low over their communities defies logic and borders on simply being cruel.”

The New York Daily News offers amateur video where you can hear some chilling words from the woman recording it: “Oh my God! That’s not normal… That’s a hijacking, I know it, because it’s been flying around.”

The Daily News also notes the comment from Gibbs that he had no knowledge of the event, but a reader wonders aloud how no one at the White House could not know that one of the president’s planes was unavailable because it was being used in a photo op above New York City.