Secretary Mullin and Secretary Duffy Brief Members of the Press on the FAA Ground Stop

Incident Overview and Scope

• A nationwide instability in air traffic control radar and communications affected FAA centers and TRACONs across the U.S. starting at 3:36 p.m. Eastern Time.
• The FAA declared a ground stop, initially holding over 3,500 aircraft in the air, which were safely diverted and landed, leaving fewer than 400 in the airspace at the time of the report.
• Airspace operations were officially reopened at 8:15 p.m. Eastern Time, though flight returns to full capacity will be gradual and dependent on crew availability.
• Critical medical flights (medevac) and law enforcement operations were allowed to continue throughout the incident; no flights were diverted to unsafe conditions.
• Over 195 souls aboard a tanker vessel near New Orleans were accounted for after a crash, with no fatalities reported.

Root Cause Analysis and Technical Details

• Secretary Sean Duffy identified the primary cause as legacy equipment overload, specifically outdated Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) analog telecom switches and routers from the 1980s.
• Data overload caused inconsistent radar inputs and communication failures, but the failure was not a complete blackout; intermittent communication remained possible until the ground stop was enforced.
• Digital upgrades previously installed (IP switches and routers) remained operational, confirming that the instability was isolated to the legacy analog infrastructure.
• The recent SMART system was confirmed to be disconnected from the core navigation systems (STARS and ERAM) and could not have caused the outage.
• The FAA deployed software patches and fixes to reduce switch overloading to restore network functionality.

Cybersecurity and External Threat Assessment

• There is currently no evidence of a cyber attack, foreign interference, or rogue AI involvement; no "footprints" or claims of responsibility have been detected.
• President Trump's team, including the White House, DHS, CISA, and NSA, has activated continuity of government protocols to investigate the incident thoroughly.
• Mark Wayne (DHS) stated that while a cyber attack cannot be 100% ruled out until the investigation concludes, current data strongly indicates a mechanical failure of old hardware.
• Administration officials emphasized that the system's vulnerability to data overload was a known risk of using aging infrastructure.

Financial and Legislative Demands

• President Trump has requested Congress approve $50 billion for a complete, state-of-the-art overhaul of the air traffic control system, building on a previously secured $12.5 billion tranche.
• Secretary Duffy criticized past administrations for failing to utilize the $15 billion previously allocated to the FAA over the last 25 years.
• The administration characterizes the infrastructure as a national security risk, noting that patchwork fixes are insufficient for a system where towers are nearly 100 years old and equipment fails under data load.
• The President has declared a national emergency to pressure Congress for full funding before the end of the year.

Operational Outlook and Passenger Impact

• Recovery is expected to be slow; flight operations will ramp up on a priority basis, with general aviation flights carrying 60+ passengers (e.g., college teams, families) receiving priority over smaller charter flights.
• FAA and airline partners are coordinating to manage stranded passengers, with FEMA centers activated to assist with medication needs and basic necessities for those delayed.
• Officials anticipate that the backlog may impact Thanksgiving travel planning, though operations are expected to normalize before the peak travel weekend.
• The administration asserts that the air safety record remains the "safest in the world" and that the decision to ground stops was a necessary precaution to ensure the safe landing of 3,500+ aircraft.

Administrative Context and Leadership

• President Trump was in constant communication with Secretary Duffy and DHS leadership during the crisis, described by officials as an engaged "builder" leading a cohesive response team.
• Officials framed the incident as a bipartisan issue requiring immediate congressional action rather than a political opportunity, contrasting their progress with the "patchwork" approach of the past.
• The administration explicitly denied any connection between this event and Microsoft or other private tech entities, attributing the failure solely to FAA legacy infrastructure.
• Previous similar outages in Newark and New York were cited as recurring evidence of the urgent need for the proposed $50 billion modernization project.