The USAFNM ‘owns’ all of the A-12/M-21/YF-12/SR-71 airframes.

It ‘loans’ them to museums as ‘it’ sees fit, not as the loanees see fit. the loanees accept the offer, with all the conditions inherent therein or they do not.
All costs which result from that acceptance are the loanes’ responsibility, not that of the USAFNM.

They figure, somewhat arrogantly perhaps, that the attraction the airframes exterts on visitor numbers is not insignificant and hence can impose this condition on museums.

The museums are also well aware that if the USAFNM requires the return of an artefact they have no recourse but to return it.. irrespective of the cost of removing it from display or the diminishing of the attraction.

In this case its a real shame as there is an A-12 which is no longer on display at the moment and whose home is arguably completely inappropriate for an A-12. that one of course is 60- 6925, the first production article whose normal home is the deck of USS Intrepid.

It would possibly do less harm to the Intrepid offer, perhaps offset with the loan of a few more Navy jets, than the removal of the ‘Goodall’ article, which as we know is probably the best one out there from the museum there.