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Home » News » Biden Orders Buttigieg To Investigate FAA System Outage, Hacking Not Ruled Out
News

Biden Orders Buttigieg To Investigate FAA System Outage, Hacking Not Ruled Out

Matthew Klint Posted onJanuary 12, 2023November 13, 2023 25 Comments

a man in a suit and tie shaking hands with another man in a crowd

President Biden has ordered Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to investigate the root cause of the FAA System Outage on Wednesday, which grounded all flights in the USA for the first time since the 9/11 attacks in 2001. While early indicators suggest hacking was not at play, Buttigieg has not ruled out that possibility.

Buttigieg Promises Full Investigation Of FAA System Outage, Does Not Eliminate Possibility Of Hacking

Travelers across the United States were delayed on Wednesday after a key FAA system went down in the middle of the night and could not be restored until mid-morning. A ripple of flight delays and later flight cancellations acrosss the nation disrupted travel for millions.

The FAA’s “Notice to Air Missions system,” according to the FAA, alerts pilots about closed runways, equipment outages, and other potential hazards along a flight route or at a location that could affect the flight.

Speaking to reporters during the FAA ground stop, Biden noted that he had been in touch with Buttigieg and instructed him and the Department of Transpiration to investigate what went wrong:

“I told them to report directly to me when they find out. Aircraft can still land safely, just not take off right now. They don’t know what the cause of it is, they expect in a couple of hours they’ll have a good sense of what caused it and will respond at that time.”

Later, Buttigieg issued his own brief statement downplaying rumors that hacking was at play:

“At my direction, FAA is continuing its system review. Preliminary work has traced the issue to a damaged database file, with no evidence of a cyber attack. FAA will continue its work to further pinpoint the sources of this issue and steps to prevent it from occurring again.”

But Is It Hacking?

Isn’t it interesting that hours after the US system went down, a similar system in Canada also went down?

a blue and white sign

NAV CANADA’S Canadian NOTAM system was restored, with the agency saying it “does not believe” the outage was “related to the FAA outage.”

NAV CANADA continues to investigate the cause of the outage; at this time, we do not believe it to be related to the FAA outage experienced earlier today. https://t.co/GnxLSFLU38

— NAV CANADA (@navcanada) January 11, 2023

Without making any assumptions at all, is it so unreasonable to wonder whether three desperate enemies of the USA (and Canada), Iran, North Korea and Russia, had anything to do with this? All three are very much into hacking.

Of course, the link between these two incidents could be as simple as a shared database or other resources. On the other hand, when asked about hacking Buttigieg later told CNN, “We’re not going to rule that out until we have a clear understanding.”

As important as that is, perhaps the bigger question we should be asking is what level of confidence officials have that this issue will not soon repeat itself.

CONCLUSION

Biden has tasked Buttigieg with investigating the root cause of the FAA System Outage on Wednesday. While hacking is not thought to be the culprit, the fact that a similar incident occurred in Canada and Canadian authorities downplay any link to the FAA outage makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Whatever the root cause, U.S. officials must labor to ensure safeguards are in place such that a repeat performance will not occur.


image: @pete.buttigieg / Instagram

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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25 Comments

  1. shoeguy Reply
    January 12, 2023 at 8:06 am

    The FAA is said to be chronically underfunded, and underinvested. Perhaps yesterday’s situation is a strong reminder to Congress, and specifically the disruptors on both sides of the aisle, that they had better focus their attention on doing their jobs, unlocking funding where it is needed, and table the culture wars.

    While yesterday’s situation may not be Pete Buttigieg’s fault, it happened under his watch, and it is time for him to put his head down and demonstrate that he can not only talk about the work, but actually do it. Forceful statements and delivering on-line retorts to deserving and obnoxious and over-reaching news anchors requires talent, yes, but what is needed here is the aptitude to look under the hood, identify some solutions (and quickly) and make realistic plans for a fix. That is government. Sloganeering, a bi-partisan problem, isn’t.

  2. Jan Reply
    January 12, 2023 at 9:09 am

    Buttigieg better write a strongly worded letter to himself and threaten his own department with fines.

    If it’s hacking, then it’s good that it happened – if only to wake them up. Not sure if B-21 Raiders is what we need for the next conflict if cyberattacks can sink our systems like this.

  3. Dave Edwards Reply
    January 12, 2023 at 9:44 am

    I’m sure Pete the (ass) Pirate will get to the “bottom” of it.

    On a serious note, I also see the need to look into the possibility of sabotage. With the recent attacks on Energy facilities, something is going on.

    • Santastico Reply
      January 12, 2023 at 12:12 pm

      Pete was busy cleaning Biden’s Corvette when he looked for some paper towel and found classified documents hanging in his garage. Seriously, you cannot make this s..t up!!!

      • Aaron Reply
        January 12, 2023 at 12:25 pm

        You kind of just did…

        • Santastico Reply
          January 12, 2023 at 12:28 pm

          @Aaron: yes, I just made this up. It is not all over the news today, right? Did you hear the president trying to explain why classified documents where found in his home garage next to his car? Yes, I made this up.

          • Aaron
            January 12, 2023 at 3:28 pm

            Was Pete there cleaning Biden’s car when it happened? So yes, you kind of did make up some of it.

    • Aaron Reply
      January 12, 2023 at 12:23 pm

      You really can’t help it with the homophobic comment, can you?

      • Dave Edwards Reply
        January 12, 2023 at 5:32 pm

        Yes Aaron, as I explained before I think it’s funny there are “men” that think it’s normal to suck another man off through a hole in a “bookstore”. I think it’s funny that there are men out there that enjoy the taste of another man’s c#ck in their mouth.

        If you think that’s normal, that’s on you and is ok. If you enjoy c#ck in your mouth, that’s on you. But again, why do you get upset I think it’s not normal or think it’s funny? Why should I believe the same things you do? Why do you think your opinion is acceptable but mine isn’t? Who makes you the authority of what is ok to believe and what isn’t?

        But I will bet you do business with people who’s religion tells them to throw homos off a roof. I’m the guy that thinks that’s WRONG. But you take their money but go after the guy who laughs at the Ass Pirates.

        Who is the hypocrite here Aaron?

        • Jake K Reply
          January 12, 2023 at 6:53 pm

          Mr. Edwards, you are of course entitled to your opinions, ideas of humor and normalcy, etc. However, if you could refrain from the derogatory name calling, it’d be much appreciated.

        • Pam Thicket Reply
          January 12, 2023 at 9:24 pm

          For someone who seems to be disgusted by gay sex, you sure seem oddly obsessed with it, and know a lot about it.

          • Dave Edwards
            January 13, 2023 at 9:10 am

            I know a lot about Biden, Pelosi and other far left lunatics. I think their believes are silly, delusional and dangerous. And I laugh at their beliefs that blacks are lazy and incapable of success without government handouts.

            But NO, I don’t secretly want to be Biden or a Democrat and I certainly don’t envy their beliefs or ways.. It seems to be the usual comeback to anyone who complains or laughs at Bone Smugglers, that they must be a closet one.

        • Aaron Reply
          January 13, 2023 at 8:20 am

          I try to avoid doing business as much as I can with raging hateful homophobic bigots like yourself. But, whataboutism is a common distraction as a defense…

          • UA-NYC
            January 13, 2023 at 9:52 am

            Dollars to donuts “Dave Edwards” is Larry Craig in real life. Bet a lot of extreme Right wingers are stuck in the closet and lash out like this.

  4. John C. Reply
    January 12, 2023 at 11:42 am

    How does this guy keep his job? He recently blasted Southwest Airlines for having a inadequate computer system and than “his” computer system crashes within two weeks. Buttigieg (former mayor) is best known as Pothole Pete as he couldn’t fix the roads in South Bend, In but now is running the US Transportation Department.

  5. ChiHsuan Reply
    January 12, 2023 at 11:44 am

    Another thing for Bootyjudge to pretend to work on.

  6. Stuart Reply
    January 12, 2023 at 12:05 pm

    The Canada aspect, I didn’t hear about this until now. Strange. But I assume the two are pretty linked up as far as systems? Think of all the flights that cross over Canadian airspace from Alaska, Seattle, Detroit, and others. But it does make you go, hmmm.

    • Dave Edwards Reply
      January 12, 2023 at 12:21 pm

      Makes you go hmmmm…..now that’s something the Tonsil Jockey Pete knows something about.

      What’s Pete’s favorite vehicle? Why a Hummer of course.

  7. Nico Z Reply
    January 12, 2023 at 12:48 pm

    Mention Pete’s name on this blog and the repressed closet cases come out of the woodwork.

    Legacy systems with security holes or stability issues are to be found in most corporations and branches of government, all around the world.

  8. Chi Hsuan Reply
    January 12, 2023 at 2:49 pm

    Of course. No one likes a talentless, incompetent diversity hire.

    • Nico Z Reply
      January 12, 2023 at 3:47 pm

      If this isn’t a Chinese fascist guv’t troll farm, the irony is dense.

  9. TC I Think Reply
    January 12, 2023 at 3:09 pm

    Face it, Pete “checked a box” just like Kamala Harris, Press Secretary KJP, his 4 Star Admiral and of course, his luggage stealing Nuclear Energy “guy”. Washington is a mess. We are the ones just watching it all happen.

    • Nico Z Reply
      January 12, 2023 at 3:52 pm

      Peter Buttigieg’s appointment was obviously a political dispensation after he dropped out of the presidential race and subsequently supported candidate and subsequent President Biden.

      But to say that his was a “check the box” appointment is ignorant. Sorry, TC I think, unless you prove us otherwise, mayor Pete had achieved more in his lifetime than you ever will.

  10. CHRIS Reply
    January 12, 2023 at 5:04 pm

    I sure hope he’s able to identify the root causes of illegal immigration

  11. DC not in DC Reply
    January 13, 2023 at 2:10 am

    Biden should send small-town ex-mayor Pete to shut down Communist China’s incursions into Taiwan’s airspace and Russia’s transportation of soldiers and weapons into the Ukraine.

    After all, Pete helped shut down our supply-chain, shut down Southwest Airlines for a week, and now he oversaw shutting down all US commercial flights.

    Pete can shut down all transportation, everywhere.

    Pete for UN Secretary General!

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