Trump fires heads of TSA, Coast Guard and eliminates key aviation safety advisory committee 1/21/25. Does this seem like billionaire Peter Thiel’s “contrarian” influence? Does making Americans unsafe while flying Make American Great Again?
Discussion
Does it seem these guys were doing a good job? He’s not eliminating positions.
On Tuesday, January 22, the Aviation Security Advisory Committee’s members received a memo from the Trump administration saying that the Department of Homeland Security was getting rid of the membership of all advisory committees in a “commitment to eliminating the misuse of resources and ensuring that DHS activities prioritize our national security.” At the same time, Trump also fired the heads of the Transportation Security Administration and the Coast Guard.
Congress mandated the aviation committee in 1988, after the PanAm Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. After Trump’s move, the committee technically continues to exist but has no members to examine safety issues in airlines and airports. Its membership consisted of key groups in the aviation industry, from major unions to representatives from major airlines, as well as a group associated with victims of the PanAm bombing.
Throughout its existence, the committee’s recommendations were adopted into air travel procedure. It was out of commission for more than a week until Wednesday’s disaster.
Thanks for a detailed reply. Do you think that those firings would have such an immediate effect? To me it sounds like a really useful committee to have, but it doesn’t have operational responsibility.
Directors, I imagine they’d have acting replacement until full-time found.
Firing aviation safety before hiring their replacements and offering TSA workers to resign with buyout contracts when they are already understaffed in the same week seems like a recipe for Americans to end up plane crashes so that the government can save money doesn’t it? Isn’t this the type of “contrarian” thinking that Peter Thiel is famous for?
Certainly questionable timing!