>> If they didn't tell Bush, that must be part of the protocol.
>
> [ ... ]
> What was at issue was whether he should have been notified,
> and whoever decided not to tell him probably did it for a
> reason: Rummy was in the loop, Bush was out of it ... the NCA
> was intact and not under threat.
Confirmation of this appears in the Washington Post today:
"Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld gave military officials the authority to shoot down, if necessary, a small plane that wandered into restricted airspace over the nation's capital May 11, according to two senior federal officials."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/24/AR2005052400408.html