Most recently, the administration has failed to adequately explain its plans to scale back Operation Noble Eagle, the Pentagon's round-the-clock air patrols over Washington and New York and intermittent flights over other major cities.
The current deployment, led by the Belgians, is scheduled to last three months, but other NATO countries will continue to provide around-the-clock air coverage, Lithuania's defense minister, Linas Linkevicius, said in an interview on Friday.
Each carrier has roughly 75 aircraft -- half of which are F-14 and F-18 attack jets -- capable of conducting around-the-clock air operations for days at a time.
But in a quiet corner of the show, a new way of clocking up air miles was to be found.
Moreover, military officials say, the Pentagon is resuming round-the-clock combat air patrols over Washington and New York around the July 4 holiday.
Both teams looked inept at times, with shot-clock violations, air balls and missed layups and wide-open jumpers.
At the back of the plane, Sara Davidson – a nervous flyer anyway – had anxiously clocked the air stewardess emerging from the first class cabin, her face a ghostly white.
Mr. Biranis was aware that he was clocking more air miles than she, especially once she took a job as a Web video producer in New York.
Every day, the Air Force must process almost 1,500 hours of full-motion video and another 1,500 still images, much of it from Predators and Reapers on around-the-clock combat air patrols.
Blas-y, as he is sometimes called, is a sort of roaming fashion journalist who clocks up air miles flitting from party to party making high-faluting connections and reporting on what dresses are "gorrrjus" and which parties are hot.
