ICYMI: After Nationwide Ground Stop, Trump Administration Prioritizes Safety, Calls for Full Modernization Funding

On Friday night, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin briefed reporters after a nationwide FAA ground stop caused by instability in the nation's decades-old air traffic control systems. The failure stemmed from overloaded 1980s-era equipment, with zero evidence of a cyberattack. President Trump has already secured $12.5 billion toward a full rebuild; the Administration is urging Congress to provide the remaining funding so this never happens again.

On what happened - and how the FAA kept every flight safe:

• Secretary Duffy: "At 3:36 p.m., we experienced instability for our radar and our communications in our centers and our TRACONs across the country… At that point, we issued a ground stop. We had over 3,500 airplanes in the air; they all engaged and, last time I looked, we had less than 400 in the airspace. As they were all coming into safely land, we navigated it with our well-known procedures that we have when these incidents happen… We didn't lose all telecom. We didn't lose all radar. But that instability, because of an abundance of caution and making sure we keep the American flyer safe, we did the ground stop." (Watch)

On an air traffic control system stuck in the 1980s:

• Secretary Duffy: "What we have is an incredibly old air traffic control system… The President, for the last year, has been asking Congress to fully fund a full build of a brand-new air traffic control system. We have TDM telecom; this is analog telecom. Our switches, our routers, actually got overloaded with data… Because of that, we shut the system down. I have already replaced some of those switches with President Trump - and our new IP switches did not go down. It's the old hardware that went down. I think the question for the American people is: do you want your Congress to fund this? President Trump has asked for the money, he has asked the Congress on a bipartisan approach to give us the resources to build a state-of-the-art air traffic control system. Let's not do a patchwork fix to a system that's critical to every single family." (Watch)
• Secretary Duffy: "We have old switches, old routers. We use 1980s little copper lines. It's an old system that went down, and went down everywhere. It got overloaded… By the way, none of your networks run on 1980 technology. You all got fiber, state-of-the-art, high-speed networks… But not the FAA." (Watch)

On reports of a cyberattack:

• Secretary Mullin: "We have seen zero evidence that this was a cyberattack or an SI attack." (Watch)
• Secretary Mullin: "There is nothing that indicates [a cyberattack]… It appears that this was mechanically driven; however, we're still looking." (Watch)

On years of delay and the need for full funding:

• Secretary Duffy: "This is an emergency. I want Congress to give us emergency funding. This is bipartisan; this is American. I want $50 billion. President Trump is a builder; he's going to build this network and deliver for the American people, but the President can't deliver for America unless the Congress delivers the money to make it happen." (Watch)
• Secretary Mullin: "This is a national security risk. We just saw what took place when we have vulnerabilities and we have old systems… Our air traffic control system is outdated, and it hasn't been a priority from Congress… This is what happens when Congress kicks the can down the road." (Watch)

On building a brand-new system - starting now:

• Secretary Duffy: "I did get partial funding through One Big Beautiful Bill - I got $12.5 billion, and with that money, we are spending it and spending it well. But the Congress at the time knew that that was not going to be enough… We now have an opportunity in an emergency funding bill before the end of the year to give the money." (Watch)
• Secretary Duffy: "This is not going to get done overnight… but when do you want to start it? America, when do you want to start building a brand-new system? Well, you have a team with President Trump that actually is building it right now, but we don't have full funding." (Watch)