TheDarceKnight
Veteran
Of course, there are plenty of holes in this theory but it's what I believe. I think the U.S. knows (via satellites) that the plane has crashed but they are just waiting on somebody else to find it since they don't want to reveal how they know. As obsessed as the U.S. is with counterterrorism, the military would be on high alert if they had any doubt that the plane wasn't anywhere else other than the bottom of the ocean right now.
Definitely at some point the president picked up a phone and talked with someone at the CIA/NSA and said "Look, don't bullshyt me, do we need to worry about anything?"
That mixes well with your idea, because I think people would have reported some activity if we had some intelligence that we might be in potential danger. There's been no reports of anything like that.