"a botched 'photo op' that frightened New Yorkers"

Reporting from Washington -- An Obama administration official who took the blame for the Air Force One flyover in Lower Manhattan last month gave his resignation Friday, after a White House investigation into a botched photo op that frightened New Yorkers with its echo of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Louis Caldera, a former California assemblyman from Los Angeles, wrote to the president that he could no longer perform effectively as head of the White House Military Office. In his letter, Caldera said the episode had "become a distraction to the important work you are doing as president."