‘The American public should be scared’: Fired FAA national defense worker warns Americans of dangers of Trump’s staff cuts
A fired Federal Aviation Administration defense worker warns Americans they should fear for their national security amid Donald Trump’s staff cuts.
Recently, Trump, Elon Musk, and DOGE began a purge of the federal workforce while claiming to cut government waste and reduce the deficit. However, they appear to have begun reckless purges without considering necessity. DOGE instigated the terminations of over 300 National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) employees, apparently without knowing what these workers did. The government scrambled to rehire them only after DOGE realized these were necessary employees needed to handle the nation’s nuclear weapons. A similar fiasco occurred when DOGE fired U.S. Department of Agriculture workers tasked with managing the government’s response to the bird flu outbreak.
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However, one of the purges that hasn’t been reversed is the purge of the FAA. Trump shockingly purged hundreds of FAA staff just weeks after a devastating plane crash claimed 67 lives, marking the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster in decades. It seems like the time to bolster and strengthen the FAA, not drastically cut its workforce. Now, one FAA worker is speaking out about the danger of such cuts.
FAA worker speaks out on dangerous staff cuts
Recently, Charles Spitzer-Stadtlander spoke to the Associated Press about the FAA cuts. Spitzer-Stadtlander was among the hundreds of FAA staff purged days ago by the Trump administration. He revealed that the reductions frightened him and that all of America should be taking notice, stating, “This is about protecting national security, and I’m scared to death. And the American public should be scared, too.”
While speaking with CNN, he explained how his termination directly contradicts Trump’s claim that no “professionals who perform safety critical functions were terminated.” While he couldn’t provide specifics on his position, he revealed he was working on an “urgent FAA defense program.” He stated, “What I can tell you is that the FAA National Defense Program, that I was a part of and was incredibly proud to work for … has an incredibly important national security role and I was working on incredibly important national security work.”
Spitzer-Stadtlander describes being “summarily” fired without notice while he was actively working. According to CNN‘s Kaitlan Collins, he was working on a defense project to detect “incoming cruise missiles.” When asked what he thought of Trump’s claim that no critical safety workers were fired, Spitzer-Stadtlander responded that it was a “flat-out false statement.” Union representatives for those terminated have echoed Spitzer-Stadtlander’s claims that employees in critical safety roles were among those fired.
The last time Trump started transportation worker purges, it was followed days later by the DC crash. Meanwhile, the DC crash marked the beginning of a string of aviation accidents that has left many Americans uncertain about their ability to trust the agencies responsible for regulating air travel. Spitzer-Stadtlander’s story also confirms that Americans don’t know who these fired workers are or what their role is. Based on Trump’s claims, one would never have suspected that FAA defense workers were included in the purge. Trump is not only leaving America vulnerable to aviation disasters but also to national security threats.
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