Duffy on El Paso: ‘FAA and DOW Acted Swiftly to Address a Cartel Drone Incursion’
The airspace has been “classified as national defense airspace.” The government could use deadly force if it determines an aircraft “poses an imminent security threat.”
Well, um, after only a few hours, the FAA announced it will open the El Paso airspace.
So 10 days to zero in a snap. Weird.
The temporary closure of airspace over El Paso has been lifted. There is no threat to commercial aviation. All flights will resume as normal.
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) February 11, 2026
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the closure happened due to the cartels:
The FAA and DOW acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion.
The threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region.
The restrictions have been lifted and normal flights are resuming.
The FAA and DOW acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion.
The threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region.
The restrictions have been lifted and normal flights are resuming. https://t.co/xQA1cMy7l0
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) February 11, 2026
Early this morning, we learned that the FAA shut down the El Paso International Airport and closed the airspace for 10 days.
No wonder I couldn’t find anything on the FAA website or social media accounts.
The FAA has issued a NOTAM halting all flight operations at El Paso International Airport (ELP/KELP) for 10 days.
The reason given is “Temporary flight restrictions for special security reasons.” pic.twitter.com/H7NWZ3KnBp
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) February 11, 2026
According to the Associated Press, the agency said the decision is for “special security reasons.”
The notice also said the airspace has been “classified as national defense airspace.” The government could use deadly force if it determines an aircraft “poses an imminent security threat.”
Officials of the airport confirmed the closing:
The FAA, on short notice, issued a temporary flight restriction halting all flights to and from El Paso and our neighboring community, Santa Teresa, NM. The restriction prohibits all aircraft operations (including commercial, cargo and general aviation) and is effective from February 10 at 11:30 PM (MST) to February 20 at 11:30PM (MST). Airport staff has reached out to the FAA, and we are pending additional guidance. In the meanwhile, commercial airlines operating out of El Paso are being informed of the restriction, which appears to be security related. Travelers are encouraged to contact their airlines to get the latest information on their flight status.
Everything will open up on February 20 at 11:30 PM MST.
Former FAA safety team member Kyle Bailey described the move as “unprecedented.”
“It’s definitely something like a national security event, a high-level VIP, but the interesting thing is that on the Mexican side of the border there is no flight restriction,” Bailey told Fox News.
Bailey definitely thinks the situation is “something very big, either from a national security standpoint or perhaps testing something — equipment or something going into the air around the vicinity of those bases.”
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This is even more suspicious.
Who issued the original notice and why?
If it was invalid, when are they being fired?
If it was not invalid, why rescind it?
Unless actual malfeasance within the government was involved, I would be more inclined toward forgiveness on this issue.
Think of the position the decision makers were in. If they did not take all the available precautions, they would be absolutely torched for any damage that might result.
They needed to act out of an abundance of caution.
Well, now the Feds just look idiotic!
Not all the feds…
-Just the Fellows Against Aviation, or FAA for short…
Why?
Theory: they had information that someone/thing they really, really want was in El Paso. There was some mention of rosd closures, too, so they were locking down the area to grab him/it.
Then they either grabbed whatever, or got information that put whatever someplace else.
Not really. But they will need to explain why the 10 days in the initial restriction.
Why so? Sudden threats popping up without a precise end gotta be reacted to immediately with some wiggle room to keep the restrictions in place beyond the immediate timeframe or to lift the restrictions when threat conditions dissipate. There’s more off the wall contingency plans for all kinds of things some very, very unlikely than most realize.
Probably all that happened was X event occurred or Y condition emerged and the SoP says if X or Y then initiate Z response. The SoP responses are, believe it or not, usually very well thought through, revised and triple checked before they get adopted, then periodically reevaluated to see if they need updates as technology improves or circumstances change.
But, when they are implemented, if time critical, they do them precisely as in the plan. Hence, the 10-day initial restriction.
Yep. SoP are very straightforward in an if X then Y manner. The implementation of Y will have an initial duration that can be extended or curtailed as events dictate.
Fox is saying that there are “mexican cartel drones” that breached airspace and were disabled.
Former FAA safety team member Kyle Bailey described the move as “unprecedented.”
Also the FAA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closings_and_cancellations_following_the_September_11_attacks
So, it seems they thought there was an actual aviation-based threat. They grounded everything so they could have clear skies in which to engage the threat. Then the threat went away or was dealt with, it seems.
The 10-day restriction isn’t that odd, really. You don’t know when the threat will materialize or when it will be dealt with, so you initialize it for 10 days with the option (which they exercised) to eliminate the restriction when the threat is over. This is a very “we know what we don’t know” way of military thinking.
It might be the threats were actually inbound when they slammed down the restrictions. And the standard for an emergency might be the 10-day restriction.
BTW, I doubt the FAA has the authority to close Mexican airspace adjacent to the border. It doesn’t belong to the US.
If it’s in range of our anti-air assets, we can shut it down.
We can advise the people whose airspace it is that we’re going weapons free. But we don’t have authority to shut it down. Yes, we have the power, but not the authority.
The FAA’s actual entry for the restrictions noted it did not include Mexican airspace.
Right. The post above seemed to marvel at that, for some reason.
2026, the year of weird …. whatever.
Praise Cthulhu that former transportation sect’y Buttgig proclaimed highway bridges as racist, or this national security precaution by the FAA would’ve never been possible.
lefty: how can it be an invasion when we are all one ;no borders
the open borders under buttijudge is one of the few
holes he didnt plug
dems say there are no borders
then we should not have to justify to them any defensive measures we take to stop the continued invasion of north america
The issuance of a 10 day airspace closure makes no sense. I can certainly understand the alarm and the need for the FAA to close the airspace – for one day and extend as needed perhaps on an daily or hourly basis. But out of the gate, a 10 day closure makes no sense and is unnecessarily disruptive. Who ever issued this directive needs to be schooled.
And, now, it might appear they shot down a party balloon. We need the whole thing laid out for us.
I thought the party balloon quip was a joke. It isn’t.
As far as I’m concerned, El Paso is the new Roswell.
You’re never going to convince me that any city in which a Walmart shooter went entirely unopposed by even a single armed citizen could possibly EXIST in Texas
I’m not saying it’s aliens, but Im also not saying what kind.
Somebody, somewhere, has to make a decision, and now. It”s a tough call based on something vague from a source that may be unreliable. If you decide to do nothing and people die, you’ll be asked why -with the information in hand- you did nothing. If you take action and nothing obvious happens to justify it you run the risk of looking a fool Your call. Go on, take another 30 seconds to decide.
Geez, when they put the whole damn country on pause for COVID, at least they had the awareness to lie it was “just 15 days to stop the spread” and then later dragged it on until it was too late. Yet when something’s happening in the air that they need to attend to ASAP, their instinct is to call a 10-day hold off the bat?
Meh, it certainly got everyone’s attention and hopefully the response will act as deterrent for anyone playing games with drones or even cartel operations via pressure from Mexican govt. ‘Gee, next time not only do we need to close the airspace but also the road and railways into the USA’ and/or air strikes on the point of origin of any drone crossing the border and side they fly low making launch point difficult to detect we’d need to take out entire grid squares in a rolling barrage until all drones stopped.