Mr. Pete Buttigieg seems to think he can criticize his successor who’s been on duty less than four weeks. Sir, where were you for the last four years?
The flying public needs answers. How many FAA personnel were just fired? What positions? And why?
Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg
X, February 17. 2025
Mr. Buttigieg recently crawled out of The Swamp of Washington DC (or perhaps the sewer he created in South Bend IN) to complain about recent aviation issues. I assume these include the crash between an Army Blackhawk and AA flight in Washington DC last month and the flip over landing in Toronto last week. Interesting he is complaining of the status of air traffic control in the United States, a system he oversaw the last four years and did nothing to improve.
By all accounts, the FAA is understaffed and more critically, antiquated. It was set up when aircraft used Visual Flight Rules (VFR), radar and instruments were just coming online, and we still use paper in the process. For a system that handles 45, 000 flights and 2.9 million passengers a day, it’s functioning pretty well.
That being said, the system needs more trained personnel and more automation to guard against human error. This has been known for ages. So Mr. Buttigieg, what did you do over the last four years to improve air traffic safety? From Wikipedia (granted, not a great source, but should be good enough):
While Secretary of Transportation, Mr. Buttigieg was deeply concerned with putting more women and minorities into local contracts and with “systemic racism and misguided investments in the federal transport and infrastructure policy,” mentioning ‘racial equity’ in almost every interview he gave to the press. In June 2022, Buttigieg launched a $1 billion Reconnecting Communities pilot program to establish “racial equity” in roads, to reconnect cities and neighborhoods divided by roads through projects such as rapid bus lines, pedestrian walkways, and planning studies.” He also was concerned US roads were not as advanced as European roads for bicycle commuters.
While on “maternity leave,” Mr. Buttigieg stood watch over the largest supply chain disruptions in US history, leading to shortages of all types of consumer and manufactured items. He also could not find time to travel to Palestine OH after a massive chemical leak from a train derailment, drawing criticism from then candidate Donald Trump, and members of the Congress from both sides of the aisle.
After the 2022 Southwest Airlines “Holiday Meltdown,” the Transportation Secretary was concerned about “Consumer rights,” establishing a website to inform flyers of possible compensation after flight cancellations or delays, and fined Southwest a record 140 million. But he continues to push Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards and electric vehicles, and with 7.5 billion from the “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” built 7 EV station in two years (private interests built over 1,000 in 2023 alone).
Sounds like air travel safety is not a concern of yours Mr. Buttigieg. After four years, including some time when air travel was down due to Covid, the FAA is still over 3,000 air traffic controllers short, and less than 10% of all towers are fully staffed. But you did change the term NOTAM from Notice to Airmen to Notice to Air Missions. Really helps with air safety sir.
Your successor at the Transportation Department, Sean Duffy, answered quickly,
Mayor Pete failed for four years to address the air traffic controller shortage and upgrade our outdated, World War II-era air traffic control system. In less than four weeks, we have already begun the process and are engaging the smartest minds in the entire world.
Here’s the truth: the FAA alone has a staggering 45,000 employees. Less than 400 were let go, and they were all probationary, meaning they had been hired less than a year ago. Zero air traffic controllers and critical safety personnel were let go.
Mayor Pete chose to use this amazing department—that is so critical to America’s success—as a slush fund for the green new scam and environmental justice nonsense. Not to mention that over 90% of the workforce under his leadership were working from home – including him. The building was empty!
After the Washington DC crash, the Trump administration proposed not upgrading, but replacing the entire air traffic control system. Will this happen this year, no. It will take some time to replace a badly outdated system that is only functioning by the grace of God and the overwork of thousands of air traffic controllers. At least the Department of Transportation is concerned about transportation issues, not DEI, quotas with contracts, bicycle lanes, and slush funds for liberal NGOs.
People who have suffered with addiction problems know the first step to recovery is admitting, “I have a problem.” The term is apropos in this matter. The federal government understands, or should I say finally openly admits it has a major issue with the air traffic control system. And it’s finally setting a goal of fixing the problem. Now is the work of Mr. Duffy the beginning of the end? No. But hopefully, to borrow the phrase, it is the end of a very long beginning.
Michael A. Thiac is a retired Army intelligence officer, with over 23 years experience, including serving in the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the Middle East. He is also a retired police patrol sergeant, with over 22 years’ service, and over ten year’s experience in field training of newly assigned officers. He has been published at The American Thinker, PoliceOne.com, and on his personal blog, A Cop’s Watch.
Opinions expressed are his alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of current or former employers.
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