Not at all. That's why I'd like to see the FAA memo. CBS has a history with memos. ;)
Does anyone know if the memo is online somewhere?
I’m sure there’s a whole series of memos and e-mails. Locating the exact source of the screw-up will be a challenge. My best guess is that there was just a disconnect between the people who knew the precise plan for the flights and the people farther down who were responsible for getting needed notifications out. It’s probably very standard procedure for any planned AF1 flights to be kept classified, except when it’s a flight involving a publicly-announced trip with POTUS, in which case a whole different set of policies and security measures are in place. Somebody near the end of the communication line probably did not have precise info about the unusual flight plan (i.e. that it involved locations and maneuvers likely to cause full-scale public panic if not publicly announced in advance), and applied the standard classification policy because doing so is clearly required unless a very clear exception has been ordered. Somebody higher up the line who did know the precise flight plans probably assumed it was so obvious that this required public notification, that he assumed that would be taken care of by people further down the line. Somehow, the info “this is exactly what the planes will do” got separated from the line of communication in which somebody orders somebody to order somebody to order somebody to make the proper notifications.