A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times – An Instant New York Times Bestseller: A Pentagon Insider's Tumultuous Years Under President Trump

by Mark T. Esper

One of the strategies I learned over the years was to, rather than trying to solve the problem as it is, simply enlarge it. Which was what I did. With a map of the United States in front of me on my desk at home, and a general understanding of aircraft ranges and flight times, I figured that many of the planes—especially the bombers—could easily fly the East Coast south from New England to D.C. I did a rudimentary calculation of the distances between cities and bases, and figured out that if we started early enough, the planes would end up over the White House later in the afternoon, on time. And rather than a tribute to Donald Trump, we could call the flyovers “A Salute to the Great Cities of the American Revolution.” The route would begin at Boston, move south to New York and Philadelphia, and then go on to Baltimore before heading to the capital. Now, the flyover was no longer focused on a single city, and arguably not a single person, but several cities and thousands of Americans. I called my team and they liked it. Milley thought it was a good idea too.