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Communications Breakdown over El Paso Airspace Closure Sparks Finger Pointing Across Trump Administration
The FAA reversed a 10-day El Paso flight ban after Customs and Border Protection used a high-energy laser without FAA coordination, officials said.
- On Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration abruptly closed airspace above El Paso, Texas, but soon lifted the restriction after urgent West Wing meetings and calls to reverse course.
- Pentagon‑loaned counter‑drone laser was deployed by Customs and Border Protection without FAA coordination, despite FAA warnings about potential airspace restrictions, officials said.
- Classifying the zone as Defense Airspace, the closure notice warned pilots could be intercepted and revealed CBP used the system to shoot down four mylar balloons this week.
- Internal officials blamed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford for the airspace closure, while sources disputed if the White House was fully notified Tuesday.
- FAA and Pentagon officials had been scheduled to meet February 20 to review impacts, as officials warned the episode could expose communications failures and harm administration communications and reputation.
16 Articles
16 Articles
Communications breakdown over El Paso airspace closure sparks finger pointing across Trump administration
The Federal Aviation Administration’s abrupt and unexplained closure of airspace above El Paso, Texas, early Wednesday has given way to a blame game inside the administration, with key senior officials asserting they hadn’t been alerted to the decision beforehand, according to several people familiar with the matter.
Borderland lawmakers demand briefing on El Paso airspace closure
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) -- Regional lawmakers are demanding a classified briefing with members of President Donald Trump's cabinet regarding the Federal Aviation Administration's temporary airspace closure that halted all El Paso air traffic Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, Feb. 11. Democratic U.S. Reps. Veronica Escobar and Gabe Vasquez, including Democratic New Mexico Sens. Martin [...]
Finger-pointing, feuding, and frustration over El Paso airspace fiasco
CONFUSION, LACK OF COORDINATION, OVER EL PASO: What may have been an incursion from a Mexican drug cartel drone, or sources say, more likely, a mylar party balloon floating harmlessly over the skies over El Paso, Texas, triggered a high-tech response that resulted in massive confusion. Since neither the U.S. Northern Command, the Pentagon, nor the Department of Homeland Security has been very forthcoming with the sequence of events that led the …
Concern generated this Wednesday the closure of the airspace in El Paso (Texas), a border zone of the United States (US) with Mexico. Officially, the government of Donald Trump reported that it was due to a supposed narco drone of a Mexican cartel. However, another version claims that it would have been a test of an anti-droon laser, without prior notice. The drone flight allegedly operated by a cartel caused the temporary suspension of flights …
The abrupt closure of El Paso's airspace at the end of Tuesday came when Customs and Border Protection officers (CBP) deployed a drone laser loaned by the Department of Defense without giving aviation officers sufficient time to assess the risks to commercial aircraft, according to multiple people informed of the situation. (Continue reading...) The entry Drones Laser would have unleashed crisis in El Paso was first published in Remolacha - News…
The sudden closure of airspace in El Paso, Texas, following the deployment of an anti-drones laser authorized by the United States Department of Defense for use by the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), was not a simple operational stumbling block. It was a political signal. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reacted by closing commercial flights because there was insufficient prior coordination. The official argument: to stop…
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