I think what Jeter was getting at is there are these plans - be they Momentum, or MetroForward, or Metro 2040, or whatever - and it's all well and good to stick to them. But every single time something happens, the ball gets dropped and nobody picks it up again. (This also happens for no reason, too; this twitter account, e.g.)
Now, I wouldn't say that there shouldn't be responses to things like, oh, deadly tunnel smoke, but WMATA's management style has been entirely reactive, and it's prevented them from getting out ahead on anything.