Inside the Debacle That Led to the Closure of El Paso’s Airspace

The F.A.A., citing “a grave risk of fatalities” from a new technology being used on the Mexican border, got caught in a stalemate with the Pentagon, which deemed the weapon “necessary.”


Steve Feinberg, center, the deputy secretary of defense, during a meeting at the Pentagon in July. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

By Karoun Demirjian, Kate Kelly, Eric Schmitt and Tyler Pager
Reporting from Washington

Feb. 14, 2026
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Last spring, in the early months of Steve Feinberg’s tenure as deputy defense secretary, Pentagon staff members briefed him on plans to employ new high-energy laser weapons to take out drones being used by Mexican cartels to smuggle drugs across the southern U.S. border. ... But their use was conditioned on getting a green light from aviation safety officials. ... The law, the staff members at the Pentagon explained to him, required extensive coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Department, which could slow the testing of the system. Transportation officials could even block the system’s use if they determined that it posed risks to aviation safety.

Two people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss sensitive matters, said they recalled that Mr. Feinberg felt the Pentagon had the authority to proceed anyway. Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesman, denied their account, saying it was “a total fabrication.” ... The meeting took place at an especially sensitive time for those regulating air safety as well as for the Pentagon. Just months earlier, an Army helicopter collided with a passenger jet near Ronald Reagan National Airport above Washington, killing 67 people and putting the military’s safety protocols under intense scrutiny.

Now the question of whether the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security followed proper procedures and the law in deploying the laser weapon has become a flashpoint within the Trump administration. Working alongside military personnel, agents from Customs and Border Protection, which is part of the Homeland Security Department, used the weapon this week not far from El Paso International Airport, prompting fury inside the F.A.A. and a brief shutdown of the airport and airspace in that region. ... Late Tuesday night, the F.A.A. administrator, Bryan Bedford, caught off guard that the system was being used without authorization and concerned for public safety, believed he had little choice but to close the airspace for 10 days, according to more than a half-dozen people. It was an extraordinary decision that surprised the flying public and local officials.


The security entrance after an abrupt closure and reopening of El Paso International Airport and surrounding airspace on Wednesday. Paul Ratje for The New York Times

Under pressure from the White House, Mr. Bedford rescinded the order on Wednesday, setting off a bout of finger-pointing within the administration that continued throughout the week. Administration officials told reporters that the F.A.A. did not warn the White House or the Pentagon that it was about to severely limit flights over a city of nearly 700,000 residents. ... But internal government communications reviewed by The New York Times tell a very different story. ... In one email, dated Feb. 6, the F.A.A.’s top lawyer warned a Pentagon official that deploying the laser system without restricting flights created “a grave risk of fatalities or permanent injuries” to Americans traveling through that airspace. ... Another email, dated Tuesday, shows that the lawyer gave official notification to 14 government employees — including senior officials in the Defense Department as well as staff members of the White House’s National Security Council — of the F.A.A.’s intention to close the airspace above the Army base adjacent to El Paso because the laser technology had been used without its approval.

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Karoun Demirjian is a breaking news reporter for The Times.

Kate Kelly covers money, policy and influence for The Times.

Eric Schmitt is a national security correspondent for The Times. He has reported on U.S. military affairs and counterterrorism for more than three decades.

Tyler Pager is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.

A version of this article appears in print on Feb. 15, 2026, Section A, Page 22 of the New York edition with the headline: Inside the Debacle That Led to the F.A.A.’s Closure of El Paso’s Airspace. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe