Investigators are working on a theory someone with flight experience took control of the plane, halted communications and changed course.
During winter, the mean temperature in the mountains is well below freezing, so that agriculture comes to a halt and communications are restricted.
"On the other hand, in light of President Bush's remarks about getting back to work, we did not halt our communications with the public," he said.
By this afternoon, after the halt, Karen Hughes, Mr. Bush's communications director, was talking about the "sense of comfort the American people will feel as the highest court in the land gets involved".
In a rare unprompted press statement, the NSA explained that it would halt "any upstream internet communications that are solely 'about' a foreign intelligence target," restricting its surveillance to messages sent or received by foreign intelligence targets.
The antenna has drawn opposition from much of Tiburon, which as a result has halted completion of the communications system, though the opponents support it in concept.
The last time a US defence chief talked to Shoigu was in August 2014, the Pentagon said, adding that high-level communications had been halted after Russia's annexation of Crimea and its intervention in Ukraine.
"Last night's debate likely halted his rise," said Tim Albrecht, communications director for Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad.
But the president has the power to dictate numbers and even put a halt on the program, Chris Boian, senior communications officer for the UNHCR, told me.
Fortunately, the U.S. FISA Court ordered the U.S. National Security Agency to halt collection of "wholly domestic" email communications in 2011 and President Obama has limited the reach of U.S. phone metadata collection.
