Politics · United States · 1 hr ago
DHS chief says U.S. faces no threat amid FAA ground stop
The FAA issued a total ground stop on Friday, halting flights under its control.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the U.S. faced no threat as he spoke at the White House that afternoon.
The Department of Homeland Security is the federal agency led by Mullin.
A ground stop is a measure that can keep flights from taking off.
The account does not say why the FAA ordered the stop or how long it lasted.
It also gives no further details about the flights affected.
The reason for the stop and what happens next are not stated.
The FAA halted U.S. departures nationwide Friday afternoon after a telecommunications problem affected its air traffic control centers.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said officials had seen no indication of a malicious attack and that there was no threat to the U.S.
Mullin said the cause was unknown and investigators were examining whether the FAA’s new AI traffic-planning system could be involved.
He said the FAA problem appeared unrelated to a Microsoft 365 outage that began Thursday.
FlightAware counted nearly 7,000 delayed or canceled flights by Friday afternoon.
- Who
- The FAA and its air traffic control centers were affected. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin addressed the incident.
- What
- A nationwide ground stop halted U.S. departures after a telecommunications problem affected FAA systems.
- When
- Friday afternoon, Nov. 13, 2026.
- Where
- Across the United States.
- Why
- The cause was not yet known. Mullin said officials were investigating and had seen no indication of a malicious attack.
DHS investigation
Air Space Intelligence
Possible link to SMART
DHS investigation
Mullin said officials were examining whether the FAA’s new AI traffic-planning system could be involved.
Air Space Intelligence
Air Space Intelligence said the ground stop was not based on or caused by its SMART system, products or integration with the FAA and air traffic control.
The Microsoft 365 outage began in Exchange Online.
The FAA said it was expanding its SMART system to the airspace managed by all 22 en route air traffic control centers.
The FAA halted departures nationwide.
Mullin said the cause was unknown and officials were investigating possible links to the SMART system.
- Affected centers
- All 22 FAA en route air traffic control centers were affected by the communications problem, according to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
- Flight disruption
- Nearly 7,000 flights were delayed or canceled by Friday afternoon, according to FlightAware.
- SMART contract
- 12-year, $875 million FAA contract with Air Space Intelligence.
- SMART data
- About 200 data streams, including weather, flight paths and controller staffing.
- Microsoft outage began
- Thursday morning in Exchange Online.
3 sources
What people are saying
This isn’t another 9/11. I just can’t repeat that enough.
We’re not ruling out anything at this point.
You just can’t rule out anything at this point. We’re going through that process, and we’re going to find out what happened.
The current ground stop is not based on or a result of the SMART system, any product of ASI or our integration with FAA and ATC.
Posts on X
The @FAAnews issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them.
The current ground stop is not based on or a result of the SMART system, any product of ASI or our integration with FAA and ATC.