Confusion Reigns After Closure Of El Paso Airport

The Federal Aviation Administration abruptly closed and just as suddenly reopened the airspace over El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday — an action that spawned hours of confusion in the latest apparent example of more than a year of friction between federal transportation regulators and the Pentagon.

Trump administration officials said the closure was due to an incursion of drug cartel drones from Mexico. But others with knowledge of Wednesday's events, who were granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, said it stemmed from a standoff between the FAA and Defense Department over the military's testing of anti-drone technology at a nearby Army base.

The two agencies have previously tangled on issues such as safety requirements for military helicopters flying through the crowded skies near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, the site of last year's fatal crash between a passenger jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter.

As it lifted the hourslong restriction for El Paso on Wednesday, the FAA assured the public: “There is no threat to commercial aviation. All flights will resume as normal.”

The FAA's original order would have halted flights for 10 days to and from El Paso International Airport and additionally restricted medical evacuation flights transiting the area.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the closure pertained to a "cartel drone incursion" in the area, and that the department coordinated with the Pentagon to "swiftly address" the issue. "The threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region," Duffy said on X.

“Mexican cartel drones breached US airspace. The Department of War took action to disable the drones," the agency said in a statement, using the Trump administration's preferred name for DOD. The FAA and the Pentagon "have determined there is no threat to commercial travel," the statement added.

But an aviation industry official, granted anonymity to discuss the nature of the restriction, told POLITICO that the restriction was put in place because the Defense Department has been using drones and testing some counter-drone technologies — including high-energy lasers — in the airspace, which neighbors Mexico, without sharing critical safety information on such operations with the FAA. (Lasers pose a serious safety hazard that can harm pilots as they land or take off.)

The Pentagon notified the FAA about the deployment of its counter-drone systems but did not provide enough details to make the aviation agency comfortable with the operations, according to another person briefed on the matter, who was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. That lack of detail led the FAA to restrict the airspace, the person said.

Another person familiar with the matter said the Defense Department didn't provide ample forewarning about its test of the anti-drone laser, and did not disclose whether the target of the test was its own drone or a Mexican drone. The FAA then closed the airspace out of an abundance of caution, said this person, who was granted anonymity to discuss the back-and-forth between the Pentagon and FAA.

The Army operates counter-drone operations out of nearby Fort Bliss.

Wednesday's incident marks yet another in a line of misfires between the FAA and Defense Department, including last year's 67-fatality midair crash over the Potomac River and other near-close calls between civilian and military aircraft that have prompted increased scrutiny. Duffy publicly complained months after the crash that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's department had failed to provide it with information about helicopter flights to and from the Pentagon.

At times, the agencies' competing priorities have embroiled Capitol Hill.

A major defense policy bill that Congress passed in December contained a surprise provision that appeared to give the military more leeway to fly helicopters on training missions in Washington without using a key location-transmitting technology — contrary to a safety requirement that the FAA had announced in March. Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said the provision “endangers the flying public” and has been pushing his own legislation to re-tighten the safety restrictions.

The same defense bill also included a major expansion of counter-drone authorities.

Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), the ranking member of the House Transportation Committee — who previously blasted the policy — told POLITICO on Wednesday that he saw the El Paso incident as an example of the overreach enabled by the bill.

The legislation “gave the DOD far too much authority and did not give the FAA enough consultation authority,” Larsen said. The lawmaker also said it appears the Pentagon is testing counter-drone systems out of Fort Bliss without properly consulting the FAA, adding that DOD “did not consider the safety of the flying public.”

The National Defense Authorization Act mandates new regulations governing counter-drone authorities for state and local law enforcement agencies, as well as prisons and jails. Meanwhile, a 2018 law grants Justice Department and DHS the authority to intercept or interdict drone threats near sensitive sites — but for now the country lacks a comprehensive framework by which certain facilities are completely off-limits.

John Sakellariadis and Sam Ogozalek contributed to this report.