Inside the Debacle That Led to the Closure of El Paso’s Airspace
The F.A.A. got stuck in a stalemate with the Pentagon, which deemed the weapon “necessary,” citing “a grave risk of fatalities” from a new technology used on the Mexican border. Last spring, in the early months of Steve Feinberg’s tenure as deputy defense secretary, Pentagon staff members briefed him on plans to employ new high-energy laser weapons to take out drones being used by Mexican cartels to smuggle drugs across the southern U.S. border.
However, their use was contingent on receiving approval from aviation safety authorities. He was informed by Pentagon staff members that the law necessitated extensive coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Department, which could impede system testing. Transportation officials could even block the system’s use if they determined that it posed risks to aviation safety.
Two people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss sensitive matters, said they recalled that Mr. Feinberg thought that the Pentagon had the right to move forward anyway. The Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, Sean Parnell, denied their account, calling it “a complete fabrication.” The meeting took place at an especially sensitive time for those regulating air safety as well as for the Pentagon. Just months earlier, an Army helicopter collided with a passenger jet near Ronald Reagan National Airport above Washington, killing 67 people and putting the military’s safety protocols under intense scrutiny.
Now the question of whether the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security followed proper procedures and the law in deploying the laser weapon has become a flashpoint within the Trump administration. Working alongside military personnel, agents from Customs and Border Protection, which is part of the Homeland Security Department, used the weapon this week not far from El Paso International Airport, prompting fury inside the F.A.A. and a brief shutdown of the airport and airspace in that region.
According to more than a half-dozen individuals, late Tuesday night, the F.A.A. administrator Bryan Bedford believed he had no choice but to close the airspace for ten days after being taken aback by the system’s unauthorized use and concerned for public safety. The flying public and local officials were taken aback by this extraordinary decision.
Under the White House’s pressure, Mr. Bedford rescinded the order on Wednesday, setting off a bout of finger-pointing within the administration that continued throughout the week. Administration officials told reporters that the F.A.A. did not warn the White House or the Pentagon that it was about to severely limit flights over a city of nearly 700,000 residents.
The New York Times, on the other hand, looked at internal government communications and found a very different story. The F.A.A.’s top lawyer sent an email on Feb. 6 to a Pentagon official warning that deploying the laser system without restricting flights created “a grave risk of fatalities or permanent injuries” for Americans flying through that airspace.
Another email, dated Tuesday, demonstrates that the attorney officially informed 14 government employees, including senior officials in the Defense Department and staff members of the White House’s National Security Council, of the F.A.A.’s intention to close the airspace above the Army base adjacent to El Paso due to the use of laser technology without the agency’s permission. Publicly, the administration has yet to acknowledge that a departmental standoff over those weapons led to the airspace closure. Even the rationale for deploying the laser system is in dispute.
Senior administration officials described the incident as having been prompted by a drone crossing into the United States from Mexico, an explanation repeated by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy this week.
On Friday, representatives from the White House declined to comment and referred to a social media post from Mr. Duffy, published on Wednesday, that said the administration “acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion.”
However, multiple people with knowledge of the situation refuted that narrative, claiming that the border protection unit shot down a party balloon rather than a drone. According to the individuals, members of the military were present during the incident. For the majority of the previous year, Mr. Over aviation safety, Duffy and F.A.A. leaders have been at odds with their national security counterparts.
The fractious nature of the relationship between the F.A.A. and the Defense Department was made clear in the aftermath of the midair collision at National Airport, as Mr. Duffy scrambled to put safety restrictions in place and the military maneuvered to sidestep them.
For much of that same time frame, the F.A.A. and the Pentagon were also engaged in discussions over the military’s plan to begin testing counter-drone lasers against cross-border threats from drug cartels. According to three people with knowledge of those discussions, the F.A.A. was unconvinced and asked for the military’s data and an opportunity to conduct its own tests after the Pentagon insisted that the lasers would not harm civilian aircraft. The requests were not satisfied.
In late January, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved a request from the Department of Homeland Security to allow border protection agents to use the Pentagon’s new anti-drone laser technology.
Mark Roosevelt Ditlevson, a principal deputy assistant defense secretary with a focus on homeland defense, sent an email to the F.A.A.’s chief counsel, William McKenna, around that same time to inform aviation officials that the military wanted to start using the technology. “We have operationalized a stationary laser system” near El Paso, Mr. According to an email that was reviewed by The Times on January 23, Ditlevson wrote.
He added that while the Pentagon was aware that the F.A.A. was still conducting an internal weapons review, officials from the national security and Homeland Security Council “are aware of this” and “agree that it makes sense” for the Defense Department to “do what we feel is necessary,” he said. On Feb. 6, Mr. McKenna wrote back, detailing the F.A.A.’s concerns about the potential for death or injuries to passengers and offering to put up flight restrictions in the areas where the Defense Department “proposes to deploy” the lasers.
Mr. McKenna declined to comment for this article.
Then in the dark morning hours of Feb. 9, members of a C.B.P. tactical unit, who had been trained how to use the counter-drone lasers by the Army, decided to deploy one, while members of the military looked on. Though it turned out to be a metallic balloon, they aimed the laser at what they thought was a drone flying near Army Fort Bliss.
According to two people with knowledge of the technology, it was the first domestic use of the weapon by federal officials outside of a controlled environment, and it was done without the F.A.A.’s approval, possibly breaking the law. Several hours after the laser system had been utilized, Mr. Ditlevson responded to the F.A.A. lawyer that the Pentagon was not changing its position on its use.
“While I can appreciate your concerns, we feel we have met the statutory requirement to coordinate with your organization,” he wrote to Mr. McKenna, copying senior Pentagon officials as well as staff members from the National Security Council.
He noted that he “looked forward” to an upcoming meeting to discuss the lasers.
Multiple people with knowledge of the consequences claim that F.A.A. officials were furious. The F.A.A. had hoped to obtain information that would satisfy their remaining concerns at a risk mitigation meeting scheduled for February 20 when agency officials requested that it be moved up. It did not happen.
It is unclear precisely when or how the F.A.A. learned about the shot-down balloon.
But at least by Tuesday afternoon, the agency’s top officials were clearly aware and had made up their minds: Concerned that the system could be used again without F.A.A. clearance, they would close the airspace above El Paso for 10 days. It is still unclear what that amount of time means. The agency notified Mr. Duffy, who was in favor of the plan, according to three people who were briefed on the matter.
Mr. McKenna then dispatched a written notification to Mr. Ditlevson that was copied to more than a dozen counterparts at the White House and the Defense Department, according to a document reviewed by The Times.
Mr. said, “I’ve talked about this with the F.A.A. administrator.” McKenna penned. He wrote that he had directed the issuance of a temporary flight restriction “to ensure aviation safety in the area” in light of the fact that the Pentagon had now “operationalized” a high-energy laser. To put it another way, by 6:30 p.m. The F.A.A. had specifically informed the Pentagon and the National Security Council on Tuesday in Washington that the airspace above Fort Bliss would be shut down until the issues could be resolved. The restriction was to begin seven hours later.
But it is unclear whether those warnings ever made their way to Mr. Hegseth, President Trump or his senior-most staff. Under his leadership, the interagency process has weakened. During his second term, Trump has drastically reduced the size of the National Security Council, even though the portfolio of international crises has grown. And when the F.A.A. made its move, many in Washington were asleep.
On the East Coast, it was 10:32 p.m. when the FAA issued orders prohibiting all flight traffic below 18,000 feet until 11:30 p.m. El Paso time. The order included not only Fort Bliss’s airspace but also El Paso International Airport’s and a barren New Mexico region west of the Army base.
Mr. Susie Wiles, by Wednesday morning the blame game had already begun after Trump’s chief of staff ordered the FAA to reopen the airspace. According to two people briefed on the situation, the F.A.A. has already achieved at least one concession in spite of the verbal conflict: the new lasers have been temporarily disabled. On Friday, when asked about Mr. The president praised Duffy for “doing a great job.”
