The decision to fly military aircraft over New York City for a U.S. Defense Department photo shoot will be investigated, a White House spokesman said Tuesday.

Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina will conduct the review "to understand ... why that decision was made and to ensure that it never happens again," Obama administration spokesman Robert Gibbs said during a news briefing. "And the president will look at that review and take any appropriate steps after that."

Residents and workers reported seeing aircraft -- which the Federal Aviation Administration said included two F-16s and a Boeing 747 that resembles Air Force One -- flying at low altitudes Monday over the Statue of Liberty and portions of the city's Manhattan borough, WCBS-TV in New York reported Monday.

President Barack Obama called the incident a mistake.

"It was something we found out about along with all of you and it will not happen again," he told reporters before a speech at FBI headquarters Tuesday.

Louis Caldera, director of the White House Military Office, apologized for the confusion and panic caused by the planes, saying he had approved the mission and accepted responsibility for the decision.

Gibbs didn't speculate what would happen to Caldera.

"I think that's why the president has rightly asked that a review of the situation and the decision-making be undertaken so that we can have a better understanding of why that decision might have been made, Gibbs said.