Washington (Monitoring Desk) — US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has clarified that the sudden suspension of flights across the country was not a new incident involving terrorist attacks like 9/11, but was caused by a malfunction in the communications system.
Speaking at a press conference alongside Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Mullin said an investigation was underway to determine the actual cause of the flight suspension. He described the sudden grounding of all US flights on Friday evening as an unusual incident but made it clear that there was no evidence of any malicious attack.
According to US media reports, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered the suspension of flight departures nationwide following a disruption in its communications system. Under the measure, aircraft were prevented from taking off, while separate arrangements were made to deal with aircraft already in the air and international flights.
Markwayne Mullin said priorities would be established for returning aircraft and restoring flight operations. He assured the public that, so far, there was no indication of a terrorist attack or any act of sabotage against the United States, and that the matter appeared to be limited to a communications system malfunction.
He said the Department of Homeland Security was receiving a large number of calls from citizens asking whether the flight suspension had been caused by a terrorist attack. He added that everyone was safe and passengers’ families had no reason to worry.
According to the US Homeland Security Secretary, the last time all flights across the country were suspended was during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. However, on January 11, 2023, domestic flight departures were also halted for approximately an hour and a half due to a technical malfunction in the Federal Aviation Administration’s Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) computer system.