WASHINGTON − The Trump administration assured Americans the United States is not under immediate threat or facing "another 9/11" after a telecommunication outage forced the Federal Aviation Administration to ground allflights nationally.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Nov. 13 said officials are still searching for a cause of the outage but said there's no indication it is part of a "nefarious attack" against the country. He said all flights were grounded "out of an abundance of caution."
“We’re wanting to assure all the American people, this isn’t a safety (threat) to the American people or another 9/11,” Mullin said. “I think that's what a lot of people are trying to make the comparison to, and that’s not the case.”
FAA grounds flights nationwide
Mullin said all flights in the United States are accounted for and being marked as they arrive at airports. The FAA cited "extraordinary circumstances and reasons for safety" in its directive, which came about 4 p.m. ET, instructing all departing aircraft to remain on the ground until further notice.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, in a post on X, said the communications issues affected "all air route traffic control centers" and that FAA technicians were investigating the issue.
Flights were grounded for two days following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
“Of course, through DHS, we’re getting a ton of calls saying, ‘Is this a terrorist attack? Is this a terrorist attack?’” Mullin said. “Everybody’s safe. There is no reason to be concerned about your loved ones if they’re flying.”
Still, Mullin did not rule out the possibility the outage could be the result of a cyber attack or artificial intelligence intrusion.
“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves,” he said when asked about those possibilities. “We’re not ruling anything out at this point.”
Mullin said the top priority is to restore communications and get back to normal operations.
“But we’re going to continue to work to find out what the root of the cause is,” he said, dismissing any connection between the FAA telecommunication outage and the recent widespread technical problems with Microsoft Outlook.
“I don’t see any reason to connect those two at all,” Mullin said. “Those are separate issues.”
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: FAA's nationwide ground stop not 'another 9/11,' federal officials say
