Addressing the nation after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a nationwide ground stop, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there is no reason to be afraid, noting there was no indication of a “nefarious attack.”
Speaking from the White House grounds on Friday, Mullin assured the American public that the disruption stemmed from a telecommunications outage and was not another September 11, 2001 situation, adding that all flights were grounded strictly as a precaution.
“There was no prior indication. There was no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack against us,” Mullin said. “It’s just a telecommunication outage as of right now.”
He told Americans that there is no reason to fear for their loved ones currently travelling by air.
“Everybody’s safe. There is no reason to be concerned about your loved ones if they’re flying,” he said.
Mullin did not rule out the possibility that the disruption could have been caused by superficial intelligence (SI) or a cyberattack. However, he said there is no reason to believe the FAA disruption is connected to a Microsoft outage from the previous day.
