NYT: Air Force One’s Ankara decoy flight put top officials, journalists aboard at deadly risk

The New York Times notes that when US President Donald Trump was snuck away from Air Force One last month to another plane due to the threat of an Iranian attack, the presidential plane was allowed to depart as a decoy with numerous government officials and journalists on board, potentially endangering all of their lives.

The officials included Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, as well as top aides Stephen Miller and Steven Cheung.

“They just didn’t seem to give a second thought to anybody but the president and the few people who were with him,” Joe Lockhart, a former White House press secretary for Bill Clinton, tells the paper. “We went out of our way to make sure the maximum number of people, especially civilians, were protected and not human shields. They didn’t even think about it.”

An adviser to former president George W. Bush has a different take.

“I understand there is concern for those flying on what was assumed to be the primary aircraft,” Joseph W. Hagin says. “But when you go to work at the White House or travel with the president, you are accepting a not-insignificant degree of risk. Telling everyone what’s up in an operation like this would have obviously jeopardized the president’s safety.”