'You're Not Answering My Question': Ted Cruz Lights Into Army Official Over DCA Midair Collision

2 days ago

At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Thursday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) questioned Brigadier General Matthew Braman, Director, Army Aviation about the midair collision at DCA.

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Transcript

00:00Chairman Cruz. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On March 1st, multiple commercial

00:07aircraft landing at DCA reported receiving a traffic alert collision

00:12avoidance system, a TCAS resolution advisories as they were preparing to

00:17land, advising pilots of an impending threat from above and in some cases

00:22directing the crews to take evasive action by descending. I think we were all

00:28alarmed that just a few weeks after the tragedy commercial pilots were being

00:32told they were at imminent risk of a deadly midair collision. It's now come

00:37to my attention that these warnings were caused by the Secret Service and the U.S.

00:42Navy improperly testing counter drone technology at DCA. Apparently the Navy

00:49was using the same spectrum band as TCAS, causing the interference and faulty

00:54resolution advisories, even though the FAA had previously warned the Navy and

00:59the Secret Service against using that specific spectrum band due to

01:04interference risks. Acting Administrator Rocheleau, is that correct? Yes sir, that's

01:10correct. Let me just say this deeply disturbing that just a month after 67

01:19people died while on approach to DCA that the Secret Service and Pentagon

01:24would inadvertently cause multiple flights to receive urgent cockpit alerts

01:32recommending evasive action. It is inappropriate for such testing to occur

01:36at DCA given the facts of what occurred and and I expect this committee to

01:43investigate why precisely that happened.

01:49General Brayman, I want to turn to your testimony. On March 11th, Chairman Moran

01:55and I sent you a letter asking a series of very specific questions. This

02:01week the Army responded with a one-page information paper. However, there were

02:07specific questions in the letter that were not answered. I want to turn to

02:13them now. We asked you specifically, how frequently does the Army turn off ADS-B

02:20out transmission? Chairman Cruz, as I stated in the discussion about how we

02:28approve the missions, a mission would have to fall into the category as

02:32defined in the federal regulation and Army policy. It must have

02:37national security implications and be sensitive in nature to be able to do

02:41that mission. General, you're not answering my question. My question is, how

02:45frequently is ADS-B out turned off? I wasn't asking what the standard is. I was

02:51asking the frequency. I can take the number for record, Senator, but I can tell

02:56you the types of missions and the majority of the missions they fly are

02:59missions associated with that national security mission. Is it accurate that ADS-B

03:05out is turned off for 100% of missions flown by the Army Air Brigade at Fort

03:12Belvoir? Senator, I think you're referring to the June 8th note from letter from

03:18the Joint Staff to Representative Norton. In the context of missions, meaning the

03:23things, the operations that the 12th Aviation supports in their mission

03:29requirements, I would say that's an accurate statement. I would not say

03:32that's an accurate statement of 100% of the flights being flown by the

03:35organization. Does, okay, so I want to understand what you mean by missions.

03:41Does missions capture training flights? Only training flights that would be, that

03:46would have been operating in a location that's sensitive as part of their

03:50continuity of government operations. Well, that would be all of them around DCA. Is

03:54that correct? Only specific sites that are, that are part of that continuity

03:58government operation. In your one-pager you said 75% of the flights are mission

04:07rehearsal readiness flights. Are those operated with ADS-B out? They are, they

04:13are, Senator, yes. So right now, today, the Army is flying helicopters in and around

04:21DCA Airport with ADS-B out turned off. Is that correct? When conducting their

04:27NORTHCOM directing mission, that is correct. I have to say I find that

04:33shocking and deeply unacceptable, and I want to encourage the Army right now to

04:42revisit that policy and to revisit that policy today. And I can tell you if the

04:48Army chooses not to, I have a high level of confidence that Congress will pass

04:53legislation mandating that you revisit the policy. If today another accident

05:00occurs over DCA with another helicopter that had ADS-B out turned off, the Army

05:10will have very direct responsibility for that. And I am at a loss to come up with

05:15any justification for risking the lives of the traveling public with that

05:20decision. You can't change the decisions made yesterday, but you can change

05:26decisions made forward. That's my understanding. The Army has a memo, August

05:329th, 2024, entitled ADS-B out off operations in the national airspace. My

05:39staff requested that memo from you, and my understanding is your team declined

05:43to provide it. That is also unacceptable. I want to ask you at this hearing, will

05:49you commit to providing that memo to this committee? Senator, I'll commit to

05:54reviewing the information and getting what we can to you, absolutely. That

05:59answer needs to be a yes, that you will provide that memo to this committee.

06:07Senator, I will review that and and we'll look at the ability to give it to the

06:11committee, absolutely. If it is not provided to this committee within 24

06:15hours, I am confident that you will have a senior commanding officer give you a

06:20direct order to provide that committee, provide that that memo to this committee.

06:24And I just want to underscore, there's no reason the Army has to wait for the

06:32conclusion of the NTSB report to revisit your policy on ADS-B out. You can do so

06:39right now. And I got to tell you, I spent this morning looking in the eyes of

06:45family members who lost family members. I don't know how I would do it

06:49tomorrow to another room of family members who lost loved ones because yet

06:56another helicopter was flying with ADS-B out, and so I cannot urge you more

07:00strongly, change that policy right now.

'You're Not Answering My Question': Ted Cruz Lights Into Army Official Over DCA Midair Collision

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