This morning, the Federal Aviation Administration’s safety system, which sends real-time safety alerts to pilots to inform them about any potential hazards or disruptions, suddenly stopped working. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has taken to Twitter to respond to the massive FAA failure that led to all domestic flights being temporarily grounded:
President Biden was briefed by Buttigieg and the White House has stated that they do not believe this was a cyberattack. The President told reporters that the Department of Transportation “doesn’t know what the cause is.”
The unexplainable failure is another blow to Secretary Buttigieg, who has received substantial criticism since taking office.
Buttigieg, who had no prior experience in transportation and is accused of being a diversity hire who, presumably, was asked to fill the position because of his sexuality, turned heads after being absent from his position for several months. Buttigieg took months of paid leave while he and his husband cared for the two infants they hired a surrogate to deliver for them. The Secretary of Transportation’s absence was in the midst of one of the worst supply chain crises our country has seen in modern history.
Several months ago, Buttigieg was on vacation in Portugal as negotiations between the government and rail workers were underway to avoid a strike. Rail workers were attempting to strike a deal that included paid sick leave, and a potential strike could have caused billions of dollars of damages to the economy. Yet, the transportation secretary took a personal trip to Europe.
Buttigieg has also been criticized for the number of times he has used taxpayer-funded planes to travel to his destinations. Last week, it became known that when Buttigieg attended the Invictus Games in Europe with his husband, he used a military aircraft. In fact, Buttigieg has flown on taxpayer-funded private jets 18 times since taking office.
With his continual absence and lack of competence in his position, many are wondering how involved Secretary Buttigieg is with the day-to-day dealings of the Department of Transportation.
