Hilary Clinton and US Transportation Secretary clash over aviation safety suggestions
February 7, 2025
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has held aviation-related talks with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), suggesting that the newly-formed team could significantly change aspects of the country’s civil aviation landscape – a suggestion strongly rebutted by former US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.
“Talked to the DOGE team. They are going to plug in to help upgrade our aviation system,” wrote Duffy on Musk’s social media platform Twitter/X. This could, among other measures, focus on upgrading the country’s air traffic control system – something which has long come under criticism as outdated or unsustainable.
However, pushing back at Duffy’s “big news,” Clinton responded that the newly-formed DOGE team “have no relevant experience”. (Announced by incoming president Donald Trump in November 2024 and formally created on 20 January, the DOGE’s purpose – according to the executive order that formed it – is to “modernise federal technology and software to maximise governmental efficiency and productivity”.)
However, “most of them aren’t old enough to rent a car,” continued Clinton. “And you’re going to let them mess with airline safety that’s already deteriorated on your watch?” Duffy responded by suggesting that, “with all due respect, ‘experienced’ Washington bureaucrats are the reason our nation’s infrastructure is crumbling. You need to sit this one out”.
“US airlines had gone 16 years without fatal crashes,” concluded Clinton. “Then MAGA fired the FAA chief, gutted the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, and threatened air traffic controllers with layoffs. Now there have been two fatal crashes. Hope your unvetted 22-year-olds fix things fast”.
Duffy, however, sought to correct Clinton, believing that “the FAA administrator announced he resigned over a month before Trump took office, and air traffic controllers were always exempt from Trump’s civil service buyouts”. Criticising the previous administration from diverting resources that could have been used to update the nations’ “antiquated air traffic control systems and other critical infrastructure,” he concluded that in “returning this department to its mission of safety by using innovative technology in transportation and infrastructure,” he would be “bringing the 22-year-olds with us”.
At the heart of the matter, pressures of an ageing ATC system, compounded by personnel shortages, remains unequivocable. Under the previous administration, in September 2023, the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO’s) study into ageing ATC infrastructure determined that of the FAA’s 138 systems, 37% were “unsustainable” and a further 39% “potentially unsustainable”. Addressing the subcommittee, Kevin Walsh, director of information technology and cybersecurity at GAO, highlighted that “while FAA has ongoing investments aimed at modernising ageing ATC systems, the agency’s progress to modernise some of the most critical and at-risk systems has been slow”.
