Screwup Led to Shutdown of El Paso Airport—The secretary of transportation invented a lie and said the military had neutralized a drug cartel drone.

[gleick@mas.to]

Screwup Led to Shutdown of El Paso Airport
—
The secretary of transportation invented a lie and said the military had neutralized a drug cartel drone. Actually, two officials said testing of counter-drone technology prompted the closure.

[bruce@darkmoon.social]

@gleick

So, gross incompetence, then. It says something about our current political landscape that this comes as a relief.

[gleick@mas.to]

@bruce Incompetence combined with the Trump regime’s instinct to lie about anything and everything.

[bruce@darkmoon.social]

@gleick

Yup. They'll lie even in situations where the truth would serve them better. It's stunning to behold, however not unexpected.

[evilotto@sfba.social]

@gleick
"Counter-drone technology" makes me imagine an "AI-powered" automated anti-aircraft system that they deployed and then realized it couldn't tell the difference between drones and commercial passenger aircraft and was preparing to shoot down the latter until someone hit a panic switch.

But that kind of thing only happens in the movies, right?

Right?

[gleick@mas.to]

Just as I said. It's a complete cock-up, and Sean Duffy's first instinct is to lie.

nytimes.com

(www.nytimes.com)

[gleick@mas.to]

“Military officials deployed that technology earlier this week against what they thought was a cartel drone, but which turned out to be a party balloon. That operation was carried out without proper coordination with the F.A.A.”

[ghostonthehalfshell@masto.ai]

@gleick

This somewhat contradicts statements posted here. If Hegseth handed operation over to DHS and they were the ones doing it the New York Times is in considerable error if I’m reading the nyt article correctly.

LOWρUFO 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇬🇱 (@lowrhoufo.bsky.social)

What is going on???

Bluesky Social (bsky.app)