President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered a review of all Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees in “critical safety positions” to ensure they are properly qualified.
In a presidential memorandum, Trump said that the Transportation Secretary and FAA Administrator would begin evaluating FAA employees in safety positions and replace them if necessary. The review comes after a string of airline safety incidents and close calls over the last few years.
In the memo, Trump said that the FAA had “betrayed its mission by elevating dangerous discrimination over excellence” during the Biden administration. The agency reportedly recruited employees with “severe intellectual” disabilities and other mental and physical challenges under a diversity and inclusion hiring strategy.
“For example, prior to my Inauguration, the FAA Diversity and Inclusion website revealed that the prior administration sought to specifically recruit and hire individuals with serious infirmities that could impact the execution of their essential life-saving duties,” Trump wrote.
As a result, Trump said he would initiate a review of the “past performance and performance standards of all individuals in critical safety positions and take all appropriate action to ensure that any individual who fails or has failed to demonstrate requisite capability is replaced by a high-capability individual that will ensure top-notch air safety and efficiency.”
Several mishaps in the last year include a plane carrying the Gonzaga University men’s basketball team nearly colliding with another plane taking off at the Los Angeles International Airport in December. In September, two Delta planes collided while taxiing at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, and one plane’s tail was nearly ripped off.
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The memo also reiterated previous executive orders stipulating that the federal government would no longer look at “equity” when hiring but practice merit-based hiring focused on skills, experience, and patriotism. Trump said hiring for the FAA would be based on individual capability, competence, achievement, and dedication.
“Illegal and discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring, including on the basis of race, sex, disability, or any other criteria other than the safety of airline passengers and overall job excellence, competency, and qualification, harms all Americans, who deserve to fly with confidence,” the FAA memo said. “It also penalizes hard-working Americans who want to serve in the FAA but are unable to do so, as they lack a requisite disability or skin color.”
