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作者：
[Alayna Treene]
,
[Kevin Liptak]
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[Natasha Bertrand]
,
[Pete Muntean]
1小时15分钟前发布
2026年2月12日，美国东部时间晚上7:57
联邦机构 美国军方 唐纳德·特朗普 航空新闻
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得克萨斯州埃尔帕索国际机场，美国联邦航空管理局解除埃尔帕索上空临时禁飞区后，警察带着警犬在机场内（2026年2月11日）。
何塞·路易斯·冈萨雷斯/路透社
美国联邦航空管理局（FAA）周三凌晨突然且未作解释地关闭了德克萨斯州埃尔帕索上空的空域，这一决定引发了政府内部的互相指责。据几位知情人士透露，关键高级官员声称他们事先并未得到关于这一决定的通知。
两名高级政府官员告诉美国有线电视新闻网（CNN），对FAA这一决定感到愤怒的白宫指责该机构未能提前通知西翼相关人员其计划关闭空域10天。其中一名官员表示，特朗普总统的高级助手认为这是FAA的”搞砸了”，而非五角大楼的责任。
政府其他部门的官员则将矛头指向国土安全部和五角大楼，指责他们在民用空域使用新型反无人机技术时未事先通知FAA，知情人士透露。
一名消息人士否认白宫被蒙在鼓里，称FAA周二晚间已通知国家安全委员会（NSC）高级官员和国土安全委员会，称将限制空域并发布临时飞行限制。该消息人士表示，目前尚不清楚被通知的官员是否告知了各自机构的负责人。
空域重新开放超过24小时后，政府内部的激烈指责凸显了一系列事件引发的担忧，以及各方急于寻找责任方的心态。
一名官员表示，这一事件令人愈发沮丧，因为它可能让整个政府笼罩在无能的阴影下，并暴露出特朗普政府关键部门之间的沟通问题。白宫尤其担忧，空域关闭通知措辞模糊，将埃尔帕索周边地区归类为”（国家）国防空域”，并声称违反限制的飞行员可能会被拦截，这造成了不确定性。
两名高级官员表示，现在白宫内部的大部分不满情绪都指向了掌管FAA的交通部长肖恩·达菲。
一名官员告诉CNN，达菲事先知道FAA打算关闭空域，”但他没有告诉任何人”。另一名政府官员则将责任归咎于FAA局长布莱恩·贝德福德，称其”决定关闭空域时未通知白宫、五角大楼或国土安全部官员”。
另一位熟悉相关流程的消息人士则为达菲辩护，否认FAA隐瞒了白宫。
“令人费解的是，白宫官员为何因达菲保护空域而不满，却不追究那些使用激光（武器）的人，”熟悉谈判的消息人士表示，将责任归咎于国土安全部和五角大楼”向商业空域开火”。
尽管正如一位高级政府官员所描述的，许多白宫官员对FAA和达菲”极为愤怒”，但目前尚不清楚特朗普是否会追究具体个人责任。
五角大楼与FAA的紧张关系
消息人士称，特朗普政府内部普遍认为，沟通失败部分源于FAA与五角大楼之间长期存在的严重不信任。自去年一架军用直升机在华盛顿特区与一架商用飞机在空中相撞以来，这种不信任一直存在。其中一位消息人士指出，五角大楼在开放空域的训练行动方面记录不佳，而华盛顿特区的坠机事件造成67人死亡。
政府官方将此次关闭归咎于墨西哥贩毒集团无人机入侵。达菲是最先公开这一说法的人之一，他在社交媒体上表示”威胁已被消除”。
但边境南部的无人机入侵极为常见，历史上从未因此引发此类空域关闭。一名政府官员否认墨西哥贩毒集团的无人机及美国的应对措施对商业航班构成了真正危险，并告诉CNN：”在禁用这些贩毒集团无人机的整个过程中，民用飞机从未因国土安全部（DHS）禁用无人机的方法而面临危险。”
然而，此次关闭的实际情况似乎更为复杂。
官员们周三告诉CNN，关闭空域的决定是在海关与边境保护局（CBP）未经与FAA协调潜在民用航班风险的情况下，部署了从五角大楼借用的高能反无人机激光后做出的。一名消息人士向CNN透露，该技术本周被用来击落四个聚酯薄膜气球。在一些人看来，使用该技术立即引发了对往返埃尔帕索国际机场民用航班的担忧。
一名熟悉流程的消息人士称，FAA在事后才得知激光已投入使用。直到此时，FAA才决定对埃尔帕索空域实施限制。
官员们表示，此前FAA、五角大楼、国家安全委员会和国土安全部就新型反无人机技术及其安全使用进行了反复讨论，但周三这些讨论的结论似乎存在争议。
一名熟悉讨论的消息人士称，FAA告诉各机构，如果他们选择在未允许FAA先在商业空域测试该技术的情况下使用它，FAA将不得不限制空域。”但五角大楼拒绝了，”该消息人士称。
多名消息人士表示，FAA和五角大楼官员原定于2月20日开会，审查激光系统测试的潜在影响和缓解措施。但据他们称，国防部希望在埃尔帕索提前使用该系统，而FAA则在协调期间实施了临时飞行限制。
然而，一位高级政府官员表示，五角大楼已授权国土安全部使用激光技术，并且他们已经进行了数月的操作演练。该官员认为，国防部和国土安全部无需获得FAA批准即可将其投入使用。
空域关闭当天上午，西翼官员、FAA和五角大楼举行了紧急会议并交换了信息，白宫高级官员明确表示空域需要重新开放，消息人士称。航空管理机构很快宣布解除了限制。
“当所有人看到新闻后，我们立即联系FAA要求其改变决定。他们确实这么做了，”一位高级政府官员表示。
当地民选官员的愤怒
埃尔帕索（人口近70万）的地区议员们抱怨关闭通知来得突然，毫无预警。
“我们被告知所有航班都停飞，却没有任何信息。但我们的城市将被关闭10天，而我们得到的只有这些信息。直到今天，我们仍未收到任何信息，也未与FAA进行任何沟通，”埃尔帕索市长雷纳德·约翰逊周四告诉CNN。
“9·11事件时机场仅关闭了两天，而一个无人机却要让我们的社区关闭10天？这对我们来说完全说不通。我们没有听到任何合理的解释，为何他们没有与我们协调。”
埃尔帕索地区是美国与墨西哥华雷斯城之间跨境贸易的枢纽，一些来自该地区的民主党议员现在指责特朗普政府在事件发生后存在欺骗行为。
“包括白宫在内散布的大量错误信息令人震惊且毫无帮助，”众议员维罗妮卡·埃斯科瓦尔在社交媒体上写道。”这是政府最高层无能的结果。”
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Communications breakdown over El Paso airspace closure sparks finger pointing across Trump administration
6 min read
By
[Alayna Treene]
,
[Kevin Liptak]
,
[Natasha Bertrand]
,
[Pete Muntean]
1 hr 15 min ago
PUBLISHED Feb 12, 2026, 7:57 PM ET
Federal agencies US military Donald Trump Aviation news
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Police officers with K9 police dogs at El Paso International Airport after the Federal Aviation Administration lifted its temporary closure of the airspace over El Paso, in El Paso, Texas, on February 11.
Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters
The Federal Aviation Administration’s abrupt and unexplained closure of airspace above El Paso, Texas, early Wednesday has given way to a blame game inside the administration, with key senior officials asserting they hadn’t been alerted to the decision beforehand, according to several people familiar with the matter.
The White House, which was furious with the FAA for the decision, blames the agency for failing to alert the appropriate people in the West Wing of its plan to shut down the airspace for 10 days, two senior administration officials told CNN. Senior aides to President Donald Trump view this as a FAA “f**k-up,” not a Pentagon one, one of the officials said.
Elsewhere in the administration, top officials were pointing fingers at the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon for using new counter-drone technology in civilian airspace without first alerting the FAA, sources familiar with the talks said.
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And one source disputed that the White House was kept in the dark, asserting that the FAA notified senior National Security Council staffers and the Homeland Security Council Tuesday evening that the airspace was going to be restricted and that they would issue the temporary flight restriction. The source said it was unclear if the officials who had been notified informed their agency’s principals.
The intense finger-pointing inside the administration more than 24 hours after the airspace had reopened underscored both the concerns raised by the series of events and the rush to find someone to blame for it.
The episode was met with heightened frustration as it threatened to taint the entire administration with a pall of incompetence and seemed to reveal communications problems among critical areas of Trump’s government, one official said. The White House was particularly concerned about the uncertainty created by the vague nature of the airspace closure notice, which classified the area around El Paso as “(National) Defense Airspace” and said pilots who violated the restriction could be intercepted.
Much of the internal White House frustration is now being directed at Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, whose agency houses the FAA, the two senior officials said.
Duffy was aware ahead of time the FAA was going to be shuttering the airspace, “but he didn’t tell anyone,” one of the officials told CNN. He later told top White House officials that he knew about the announcement ahead of time, the official said. But another administration official blamed FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, saying that he “decided to close the airspace without alerting White House, Pentagon, or Homeland Security officials.”
A separate source familiar with the process strongly defended Duffy and disputed that the FAA kept the White House in the dark.
“It’s baffling that White House officials are upset with Duffy for protecting the airspace and not the folks who launched the laser,” the source familiar with the talks said, blaming the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon for shooting “into commercial air space.”
Despite many White House officials being “furious” with the FAA and Duffy, as one of the senior administration officials characterized it, it is unclear whether Trump will move to hold any specific individuals accountable.
Pentagon and FAA tensions
There is a broad feeling in the Trump administration that the breakdown in communications was, in part, a result of the heavy distrust between the FAA and the Pentagon, which has existed ever since a military helicopter collided midair with a commercial plane in Washington, DC, last year, sources said. One of the sources said the Pentagon does not have a great track record when it comes to training operations in open airspace, referencing the DC crash that killed 67 people.
The administration officially blamed the closure on an incursion of drones from Mexican drug cartels. Duffy was among the first to do so publicly, saying on social media “the threat has been neutralized.”
But incursions along the southern border are extremely common, and historically do not prompt such airspace closures. And one of the administration officials denied that a Mexican drug cartel drone and the US response prompted any real danger to commercial travel, telling CNN that “at no point in the process of disabling these cartel drones were civilian aircraft in danger as a result of the methods used by DOW to disable the drones.”
The reality of the closure appeared more complicated.
Officials told CNN on Wednesday the decision to close the airspace was prompted after Customs and Border Protection officials deployed a high-energy counter-drone laser on loan from the Pentagon without having coordinated with the FAA about potential risks to civilian flights. A source told CNN the technology was used to shoot down four mylar balloons this week. In the minds of some, its use raised immediate concerns for civilian traffic arriving and departing El Paso International Airport.
A source familiar with the process said the FAA had learned after the fact that the laser had been operationalized. It was only then that the FAA decided to issue the restriction on El Paso’s airspace.
Previously, the FAA, Pentagon, NSC and DHS had been engaged in back-and-forth discussions over the new counter-drone technology and what they deemed as its safe use, officials said. But the conclusion of those discussions appeared to be in dispute Wednesday.
According to a source familiar with the discussions, the FAA told the agencies that if they chose to use the technology without first allowing the FAA to test it in commercial airspace, then the FAA would have to restrict the airspace. “The Pentagon refused,” the source said.
FAA and Pentagon officials had been scheduled to meet February 20 to review potential impacts and mitigation measures for a test of the laser system, a technology the Pentagon has been testing in more remote areas of the country, multiple sources said. But, in their telling, the Defense Department sought to use the system sooner around El Paso, and the FAA imposed the temporary flight restriction until that coordination could occur.
A senior administration official, though, said the Pentagon gave DHS the authorization to use the laser technology, and that they had been practicing and discussing the operation for months. The official argued that DOD and DHS did not need FAA approval to operationalize it.
On the morning the airspace was closed, officials in the West Wing, the FAA and the Pentagon held early meetings and exchanged urgent communications, and senior White House officials made clear the airspace needed to reopen, sources said. The aviation agency soon announced the closure was lifted.
“When everyone saw the news, we called the FAA and told them to reverse course. And so that’s what they did,” one of the senior administration officials said.
Outrage from local elected officials
Area lawmakers from El Paso — with a population of nearly 700,000 — have bemoaned that the closure notice came without any warning.
“What we were told was everything is grounded, and there was no information. But our city was going to be shut down for ten days, and that’s all the information we got and still today, we have no information and we have no correspondence with the FAA,” El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson told CNN on Thursday.
“9/11 shut down our airport for only two days, but a drone was going to shut down our community for 10 days? It just doesn’t make sense to us here. We haven’t heard any good reasons of why they didn’t coordinate with us.”
And some Democrats from the El Paso area, which is hub of cross-border commerce alongside neighboring Ciudad Juárez in Mexico, are now accusing the Trump administration of being duplicitous in the aftermath of the incident.
“The amount of misinformation being spread — including by the White House — is alarming and unhelpful,” Rep. Veronica Escobar wrote on social media. “This was the result of incompetence at the highest levels of the administration.”
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