The words, “initiator” , “requestor” and “approver” have very specific meanings.
In order to schedule this mission, there were probably a dozen, or more, “approvers as the "request" moved down and then back up the chain of command.”
Caldera had final “approval” of somebody’s “request.”
The point I'm making is that someone had enough juice to “request” a $350,000 flight mission.
How many people in the White House have $350,000 in their budget to spend on a joyride?
The key to understanding this fiasco is understanding how the budgets and the bureaucracy work.
The requester was most likely a sub committee of the presidential transition team. I worked for a vendor dealing with Executive Office of the President in 1993 supplying computers and software. I PERSONALLY built the first Mac that went into the White House for Hillary. I spent many long hours dealing with the GSA and other departments within the EOP during the Clinton transition. Bonehead things often just fell across my desk that were clearly just copies of things requested at the beginning of Bush 41. Computers and things that weren't even made any more. Obviously, just rubber stamped.
Exactly.