Why? Because he's not stupid like some posters here. Most decision makers that I know what to know what the situation is before devising a strategy. I strongly suspect that the Navy also wanted to know what was going on before designing a strategy. Of course some posters seem to be very disappointed about the outcome and even make the absurd comment about trying to tell the Navy brass and Obama what they should have done. It makes them look and read like a fool don't you agree?