Several employees of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) were terminated over the holiday weekend, raising alarms about national security and employee treatment within the agency. Spitzer-Stadtlander, one of those fired, expressed his fears, stating, “This is about protecting national security, and I’m scared to death. And the American public should be scared too.”
The firings began on Friday evening and continued late into the night, as notifications were sent out from an ‘exec order’ Microsoft email address, not affiliated with government channels, according to FAA representative Spero. The notice included claims that these employees were dismissed “without cause nor based on performance or conduct.”
The timing of these terminations is particularly concerning, as the FAA faces a critical shortfall of air traffic controllers. The agency has long been under scrutiny for an overstretched and understaffed system, which has led to multiple near-miss incidents at airports across the country. Contributing factors to the staffing shortages include uncompetitive pay and mandatory retirements.
The gravity of the situation was underscored by the ongoing investigation into a fatal collision between a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines passenger jet earlier this year. Reports indicate that a single controller was managing both commercial air and helicopter traffic during the incident at a busy airport.
Spitzer-Stadtlander believes his dismissal is linked to his outspoken criticism of Elon Musk’s companies, Tesla and X (formerly known as Twitter). Following controversial social media interactions, including a post urging friends to divest from Musk’s companies, he faced backlash and subsequently lost his job.
“The official DOGE Facebook page started harassing me on my personal Facebook account after I criticized Tesla and Twitter,” he recounted in a LinkedIn post. He further claimed that despite being employed in a department that focused on national security issues, he was not shielded from the sweeping firings.
The recent terminations have prompted federal officials to point out the implications for an already burdened air traffic control system and the potential threats to national security. The Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency has yet to comment on the incident, which was first reported by CNN.
