Of course he did. Established US military protocols are well understood by most everyone in gov't, and especially Congress.
Only the President can give an order to stand down in a live fire event, so the real question is, why is Congress silent on this? Why haven't dozens of them gone before the cameras to explain that protocol to the American people, and demand Obama's head?
Now, before you answer, we have to consider the immense gravity of the act, and the potentially grave consequences to any faithful public servant who would be willing to say what should be said in public.
There's every chance that the situation is so dangerous on a personal level to everyone in Congress, that it's taking time to quietly, secretly gather enough patriots together to make a stand.
We're living in 'interesting times'. They're even more 'interesting' for those closest to the action. You can bet they're being extra cautious, and will not move until they've got everything in place.
Not so. Only the CIC can give the order to take military action across an international boarder. Because there is action that takes place automatically when the distress cable went out our military was waiting for the go ahead order from the CIC to proceed with the rescue mission. If the CIC is AWOL then someone had to tell the military to stand down because that someone is not authorized to give the go ahead.