"The Trump administration blamed the brief temporary closure on an incursion into U.S. airspace by a Mexican drug cartel drone. In a social media post, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the U.S. military and FAA had acted "swiftly" to address the situation. "The threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region," Duffy wrote in a post on X."
"U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas., who represents the El Paso area in Congress, also cast doubt on Duffy's version of events. "The statement by the administration that this shutdown was linked to a Mexican cartel drone that came into U.S. airspace that is not my understanding," Escobar said at a morning news conference, adding that is "not what we in Congress have been told.""
The FAA abruptly closed airspace around El Paso late Tuesday night for ten days, then reopened it hours later. The Trump administration blamed the closure on an incursion into U.S. airspace by a Mexican drug cartel drone and said the U.S. military and FAA acted swiftly to neutralize the threat. A Capitol Hill source told NPR that the Defense Department deployed counter-drone technology before the FAA completed its safety assessment. U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar disputed the administration's account and said FAA officials did not notify her or local El Paso leaders. Local officials said cross-border drone activity is common and questions remain about FAA-Pentagon coordination.
Read at www.npr.org
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]