DHS Secretary Mullin addresses nationwide FAA ground stop

So we were talking a little bit about some of the whys behind this situation, Tom. And just a little bit ago, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Mark Wayne Mullen, addressed some of the questions and what we know so far about this nationwide ground stop. Let's listen to the news conference he held just moments ago. And we had no reason to believe that as of right now that this was a threat to the United States. This was a telecommunication outage throughout FAA. Out of abundant caution, we have grounded all the flights and all the flights are accounted for as incoming flights, either internationally or the flights that are currently still in the air. We'll be dealing with those case by case. As you can imagine, There will be a priority list as they start coming in. But as I will repeat myself, there was no prior indication. There was no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack against us. It's just a telecommunication outage as of right now. You're saying that there's no indication yet that this was a nefarious act. Does that mean that you just haven't seen the evidence and it's possible? that this could be either a cyber attack or some kind of an AI intrusion? Well we don't want to get ahead of ourselves anytime something like this happens. I mean the last time I believe that we've had a national ground stoppage was 9-11. Of course through DHS we're getting a ton of community calls saying is this a terrorist attack? Is this a terrorist attack? Everybody's safe. There is no reason to be concerned About your loved ones, if they're flying, or anything like that. I just want to make sure everybody's at ease about that. As we investigate what caused this, you always got to assume that as many cyber attacks that take place, that you make that assumption. So, but as of right now, that's not known. So we're going to continue to work. The first thing we want to do is make sure we restore the communications. We get all the flights on the ground, and then we get back normal operations. But we're going to continue to work to find out what the root of the cause is. And so it's your assessment that Microsoft yesterday, the FAA today is a coincidence. I don't see any reason to connect those two at all. Those are separate issues. Just to be clear, can you definitively rule out that this is not a cyber attack? And how long do you expect this outage to last? What is the cause of it? So we're working with Secretary Duffy on this. We're not ruling out anything at this point. The first thing is the safety of everybody that's flying. We are assured that everybody is safe, everybody that's going to be in the air that's currently on a plane. The loved ones, as I said, we're going to get you on the ground and we're doing it in a safe manner. To say that we can rule out anything, that's not what we do at this point. The first thing we want to do is make sure everybody is safe and we restore operations. Yes. Can you talk about the specific system that is being affected right now? And we have seen some planes land at specific airports. Right. Right. Is that going to be the case of all airports, any flights in the air will be allowed to land? The flights that are currently in the air, we have a ground stoppage. We still got to get the flights out, right? And so we're going to be dealing with those case by case. Please. I think you said specific, it's a telecommunication outage. I'm not going to get ahead of FAA. That's their lane to talk about. We were wanting to assure all the American people this isn't a safety to the American people or another 9-11. I think that's what a lot of people are trying to make the comparison to, and that's not the case. And in briefing the president, what kind of all-of-government response is being assembled right now? Who's involved? We're throwing – everyone that has a stake in this, everybody's involved right now. So this is – this is – unprecedented when we when you see something like this and we're going to continue to throw the assets we need at it to make sure that once as not to repeat myself, but that we get the flights down and then we get the normal operations back up. But there was Several of us that was involved in it, yes, right back here, back here, blue tie, sorry. Sorry. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. So is it currently the communications is down as we speak right now? Yes. And then secondly, there is, let me explain, we are able to communicate at certain levels. But it's overwhelmed some of the systems we have. Once again, Sean Duffy, Secretary Duffy, is on this. He was on the phone earlier with the president and several of us. And they're doing a phenomenal job in a crisis mode. Is it days? That's too early to tell. That's too early to tell right now. There are reports that they last about seven hours right now that pilots are telling these people. Is that the time frame they're looking for? We have not discussed any time frame. I mean, for, you got it. I'll just think about this as a whole. If I have a loved one at the airport, just to get everybody started back up and the flight's going again, it's going to take some time. And so this isn't going to just be resolved. Uh, and, and turned around within the hour. This is, this is going to take, take some time, but once again, um, everybody is safe. The flights are accounted for, uh, and there's no, there should be no fear to the public at all. The president has been briefed secretary Mark Wayne Mullen, uh, making some pretty newsworthy remarks there. No indication yet. And I put yet Yet in quotation marks that this was a Nefarious act. Everybody is safe. The FAA taking proactive action grounding all flights in the midst of the communication breakdown. I don't see any reason to connect the Outlook outage yesterday to what's happening with the FAA today. So some pretty ambiguous answers there. It's going to take some time according to the... Department of Homeland Security Secretary to figure out exactly what went wrong here. And a lot of questions. I mean, people want to know. We expect, hopefully, to get some answers when the president is set to make some remarks at some point here in the 7 o'clock hour. We're kind of waiting on the timing of that, but that's something we'll stay tuned to you for and bring to you live.