Blumenthal & Colleagues Call on Duffy to Provide Immediate Transparency on FAA Personnel Firings & Safety Concerns

[HARTFORD, CT] – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) joined his colleagues, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner (D-VA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), in sending a letter to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, expressing deep concerns about the recent firings of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) personnel and the troubling involvement of unaccountable entities, including SpaceX, in critical aviation safety decisions. The letter urges Duffy to prioritize the safety of America’s air travel system and to reverse recent cuts to essential FAA safety roles. Earlier this month, the Trump Administration fired hundreds of aviation safety personnel, including an individual from the air traffic control tower at Bradley International Airport and four members of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists that provided support for Connecticut remotely.

“We write to express our deep concerns with the recent firings of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) personnel and the involvement of a cadre, unaccountable to the American people, in critical aviation safety decision making. The past week has seen mass firings of Federal workers, done without regard to personal performance, the impact on mission effectiveness, and the effect on the country’s ability to deliver services at home or compete abroad. We urge you to stand up for the safety of our national air space and reverse these devastating cuts in key safety roles,” wrote the senators.

The letter raises alarms about a series of concerning aviation incidents over the past month, including multiple crashes and close calls that highlight the need for highly trained, impartial professionals at the FAA. The lawmakers stressed the need for a commitment to safety, calling out the dangers of prioritizing political agendas over the well-being of American air travelers.

“We need experienced, qualified, and impartial professionals to investigate these unfortunate incidents, develop plans to prevent these types of accidents from occurring in the future, and implement those plans with the safety of the public as the sole and guiding objective,” wrote the senators.

In the letter, the senators also raised significant concerns regarding the role of SpaceX in the future of air traffic control, following public statements by Duffy that employees of Elon Musk’s company are involved in “deliver[ing] a new, world-class air traffic control system” and that his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is “plug[ged] in” to the country’s aviation system.

The senators noted that the involvement of Musk’s employees in the FAA “is troubling given that SpaceX has been investigated and fined by the FAA for multiple incidences of safety violations, and is at this time actively under investigation by the FAA for additional safety violations.”

The letter calls for a series of detailed answers from Duffy regarding the role of SpaceX, the processes used to evaluate and select external contractors, and the impact of recent personnel terminations on the safety and effectiveness of FAA operations. The letter also demands a full public accounting of the decision-making process that led to these significant changes, with a commitment to ongoing transparency.

In a separate letter to Secretary Duffy sent on February 19^th, Blumenthal also demanded answers about the Trump Administration’s indiscriminate termination of FAA personnel, raising concerns about safety risks on the heels of troubling aviation incidents. The full text of the February 19^th letter to Secretary Duffy is available here. On February 20^th, Blumenthal joined colleagues in another letter to Secretary Duffy urging the agency to stop the mass layoffs and firing of essential transportation safety employees and instead focus on prioritizing safety. The lawmakers demanded information regarding DOT plans to protect passengers and prevent future crashes. The full text of the February 20^th letter to Secretary Duffy is available here.

Text of the February 24^th letter is available here and below.

Dear Secretary Duffy:

We write to express our deep concerns with the recent firings of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) personnel and the involvement of a cadre, unaccountable to the American people, in critical aviation safety decision making. The past week has seen mass firings of Federal workers, done without regard to personal performance, the impact on mission effectiveness, and the effect on the country’s ability to deliver services at home or compete abroad. We urge you to stand up for the safety of our national air space and reverse these devastating cuts in key safety roles.

Recent incidents have demonstrated that we cannot afford to put a partisan agenda ahead of the public’s safety. On January 29, there was a tragic collision between two aircraft near Washington National Airport, on January 31 a medical transport airplane crash in Philadelphia, on February 7 a regional airline crash near Nome, on February 10 a fatal ground collision between two aircraft on a runway in Scottsdale, and on February 18 an incident in Toronto in which an aircraft originating in Minneapolis that overturned on the runway. We need experienced, qualified, and impartial professionals to investigate these unfortunate incidents, develop plans to prevent these types of accidents from occurring in the future, and implement those plans with the safety of the public as the sole and guiding objective.

We share your stated goal of “safe, state-of-the-art air travel.”  As my colleagues and I stated in a recent letter to Acting Administrator Rocheleau of the FAA, the “FAA should identify and implement immediate steps to improve safety for aviation industry personnel [and] the flying public[.]”  We reiterate that any efforts to weaken standards will not be tolerated and that Mr. Musk’s mantra of “move fast and break things” should not be applied to aviation safety. The civil servants at the FAA, including the hundreds that were summarily terminated, operate with the goal and expectation that any margin of failure is not acceptable.

Furthermore, the announced involvement of SpaceX employees in “deliver[ing] a new, world-class air traffic control system”  is troubling given that SpaceX has been investigated and fined by the FAA for multiple incidences of safety violations, and is at this time actively under investigation by the FAA for additional safety violations. In your tweet February 5, you stated ““Big News – Talked to the DOGE team. They are going to plug in to help upgrade our aviation system.”  Both DOGE and SpaceX are controlled by, or subject to direction of (in fact if not in law) Elon Musk.

Additionally, your tweet notes that Mr. Musk’s SpaceX team is visiting the FAA to “get a firsthand look at the current system, learn what air traffic controllers like and dislike about their current tools, and envision how we can make a new, better, modern and safer system.”  With the Trump administration asserting that Mr. Musk “has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself”  and that he “only has the ability to advise the President, or communicate the President’s directives,”  it is reasonable to question in what capacity SpaceX and Mr. Musk are involved with FAA safety systems. Mr. Musk’s engagement raises major concerns regarding the appropriateness of letting the head of a regulated company to dictate the operations of its safety regulator.

In order to provide the public with a full rationale and transparency in your recent decisions please provide responses to the below questions no later than March 24, 2025

1. Did the SpaceX team receive access to the FAA Air Traffic Control System Command Center in New Baltimore, Virginia, or any other component of the air traffic control system?
1. Describe, and provide documentation sufficient to substantiate, the areas of the facility that the SpaceX team accessed, at what control levels, and the titles and responsibilities of FAA or contractor personnel that SpaceX communicated with.
2. Describe, and provide documentation sufficient to substantiate, the information that was provided to the SpaceX team and the information that was requested by the SpaceX team.
3. If no, provide information on, and documentation sufficient to substantiate, confirmed or potential dates for any visit in which air safety is a subject, or component, of the visit.

2. Your tweet of February 17 requested “help from any high-tech American developer or company that is willing to give back to our country” and that “My door at @USDOT is open to any and all patriotic developers or companies who want to help our country in this incredible, game-changing mission.”
1. What process is in place to collect communications from “American developer[s] or company[ies]”?
2. What process is in place to evaluate responses to your solicitation? Describe how it will identify, evaluate, and mitigate conflicts-of-interests by responding parties?

3. Did you or any employee of the U.S. Department of Transportation originate the idea to invite SpaceX for this engagement? If the directive originated outside of the Department, from where did it originate? Provide documentation sufficient to substantiate your response.
1. Is SpaceX, or any individual or entity affiliated with or employed by SpaceX, receiving compensation for:

1. 1. 1. the visit to the Air Traffic Control System Command Center;
      2. meetings or communications with FAA personnel or contractors;
      3. any recommendations, reports, communications, or any other work relating to a “a new, better, modern and safer system”;
      4. or any other work responsive to, or having a nexus with, your tweet of February 17.

4. On February 5, 2025, both you and Elon Musk separately announced that DOGE would “upgrade our aviation system”.
1. Did you or an employee of the U.S. Department of Transportation initiate the invitation to DOGE? If the directive originated outside of the Department, from where did it originate? Provide documentation sufficient to substantiate your response.
2. What engagement have you had with DOGE at this time? Provide documentation sufficient to substantiate your response.
3. What engagement has been discussed or is planned for the future? Provide documentation sufficient to substantiate your response.
4. Do you commit to timely report to Congress any actions that the FAA is directed to undertake at the direction of the President, DOGE, or SpaceX or any other third party regarding any aspect of aviation safety?
5. Do you commit to providing the public with details about what recommendations of SpaceX or DOGE staff and representatives provide to you in relation to aviation safety? Will you notify Congress if you elect to follow through on any recommendations provided to you by SpaceX or DOGE staff and representatives?

5. Please provide a list of FAA and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Maritime Administration, and other Department of Transportation personnel notified of their termination by the date of this letter, including information on:
1. Each individual’s position, specialties, and participation in advisory boards, interagency working groups or task forces, and rationale for dismissal;

1. 1. 5. include documentation sufficient to substantiate the rationale for dismissal. 

2. time in current (or most recent) role;
3. total time in federal service;
4. veteran status; and
5. any analyses prepared on the impact the terminations had, or are projected to have, on FAA aviation safety and Department of Transportation safety programs across all modalities.

1. 1. 6. Provide documentation sufficient to substantiate any determination on the impact that the terminations could have on safety programs and efforts across all modalities.

Personally-identifying information may be removed for the purposes of the response but should be provided to congressional staff at our request.

We look forward to your swift response and to working together for the best interests of the public and the United States of America.

-30-