No Indication Of 'Nefarious Attack' After Nationwide Ground Stop Due To 'Extraordinary Circumstances': Mullen

NEW YORK — UPDATE: 6:21 p.m.: United States Secretary of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullen addressed the media at a White House press briefing, regarding the Federal Aviation Administration's issuance of a nationwide ground stoppage of all aircraft Friday afternoon.

The ground stoppage went into effect as of about 4 p.m., officials said.

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According to Mullen, there were no indications of a "nefarious attack."

He added that there was still an ability to communicate, but out of an "abundance of caution," the decision was made to "ground everything."

He said there were two areas in the United States where communication was "just fine," but declined to mention where those were.

All agencies, he said, wer "working together." He added: "I don't want to say that this is a crisis, but it is, because we had to do a nationwide ground stop."

However, he said, the situation could not be compared to 9/11, despite assumptions some were making due to the stoppage. "This is very different," he said. "It's very difficult to make assumptions. We wnat to deal with facts."

According to the FAA, the decision was made "due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety. Attention all aircraft operators, by order of the federal aviation command center all airports are ground stopped until further notice. Inbound international flights will be managed on a case-by-case basis."

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed the news on X, stating that the ground stop was related to communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.

FAA technicians were investigating the issue, he said. "We will provide immediate updates as we have them," he said. The delay impacted major hubs in New York including John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia, and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.

Nationwide ground stops are rare: Such a stop was ordered after the terrorist attacks on 9/11.

According to NBC, all flights were also grounded by the FAA in 2023, due a failure in the Notice to Air Missions system, which lets pilots know of dangers.