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Bloomberg Television9 min

Ground Stop Fix Will 'Take Some Time,' Mullin Says

Mullin

Press Conference
  • Secretary of Homeland Security Mark Wayne Mullen stated there is currently no indication the nationwide ground stop was caused by a nefarious act, labeling it primarily as a "telecommunication outage."
  • Operational Status:
    • A complete ground stop is in effect across the United States.
    • Flights currently in the air are authorized to land.
    • Two specific areas within the U.S. retain functional communications; locations remain unconfirmed.
  • Investigative Scope and Agencies:
    • A multi-agency "all-of-government" response is active, involving the DHS, FAA, State Department, DOW, and CISA.
    • Investigations are actively examining potential causes, including:
      • Cyber attacks.
      • AI intrusion or errors (potentially linked to a new FAA traffic control system rollout mentioned by the press).
      • Routine technical failures.
    • Mullen declined to rule out cyber attacks or terrorist involvement, noting that standard protocol requires assuming the worst until facts confirm otherwise.
  • Timeline and Duration:
    • No specific duration was provided; Mullen indicated the resolution "is not going to be resolved and turned around within the hour" and "will take some time."
    • Specific estimates of "seven hours" circulating among pilots were not confirmed by the briefing.
  • Safety and Public Assurance:
    • Officials assured the public that all passengers and crews are safe and accounted for.
    • Mullen explicitly stated this event is not comparable to the September 11 attacks, despite being the first nationwide ground stoppage since that date.
    • Redundancy in communication systems allowed some planes to land despite the outage.
  • Political Context:
    • President Trump was briefed immediately and deployed necessary assets to manage the crisis.
    • Secretary Mullen praised the President's leadership during the emergency response.
  • Coordination:
    • Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy is directly involved in the coordination efforts.
    • The FAA is managing specific flight operations while the DHS leads the broader investigation into the root cause.