Originally Posted by
artee
What could possibly go wrong?
Every situation involving a President's consideration and decision about the missions to be assigned to United States Armed Forces, during my lifetime and to the extent at least somewhat in public view, has involved fairly frequent reference to the notion that "presidents need to receive options".
(Caveats: though I recall the Soviet blockade of Berlin, that far back in kidhood I wasn't paying that much attention. But not long after LBJ took office, my parents - who both essentially preached a sort of "Rosie the Riveter", "Kilroy Was Here" and "Willie and Joe" constant history lesson, made it impossible for younger me not to pay attention to news (such as it was) about such decisions. These caveats are noted inasmuch as there are so many ex-military personages on this thread (and the forum, in general), so that it sometimes seems necessary to say what wild idea makes me think I may have something to add here. And yes, the Berlin blockade led to reading about the Berlin Airlift, and Rosie led to reading about the B-24 Liberator bomber plant at Willow Run.)
Was it noticed that the White House Press Secretary, the indefatigable Karoline Leavitt, used the word "optionality"?
This matters because the President needs to be presented with specific and detailed plans in order to then decide that the risks and difficulties are too heavy to enable an operation or mission to proceed. The elements of the plan described in the article in just strictly aviation terms (including aviation assets and logistics) are, well, overwhelming.
There are voices or interests who appear to be pressing the President to approve a uranium retrieval and extraction mission. By receiving a detailed plan, and seeing what risks and difficulties are presented according to the military officers whose career paths have given them the responsibility to define and assess these factors, the C-I-C then is able to state, with veracity, that the option was considered, and it was decided against. Maybe not publicly stated, but stated as a matter of presidential decision-making process.
I'll go back now to trying to get more pages read in Presidents of War (Michael Beschloss 2019).