00:04Air traffic controllers say they raised concerns about the stability of the system back then
00:08and that the FAA did not take their concerns as seriously as it obviously is now.
00:13Do you know if that message got through to the FAA, and if so, why there wasn't more of a reaction back then?
00:18I'll turn it over to Chris.
00:20I'll just say we got here at the end of January, right?
00:24So I wasn't here, and Chris wasn't there, so I don't know what was done at the previous FAA.
00:30But we almost, in very short order after the DCA air crash, we started working on the plan that we rolled out a couple weeks ago,
00:40knowing that this complete build had to be done, and so I can't speak to the last administration.
00:47I don't know if you have any information on that or?
00:49I would just echo what the secretary said.
00:53Clearly, something wasn't going right when we experienced these outages.
00:57Right now, part of this effort, part of this initiative is to ensure we're acting with decisiveness, right, with focus to make sure the lines get in,
01:07to make sure those redundancies are put in, to make sure the controllers have the tools they need to make the system safe, to operate safely itself.
01:15So what happened in the past, we've focused on what we're dealing with right now to make sure that we continue to operate the system safely.
01:23I would note that the FEN's contract, which in part is to build out the fiber telecom, that contract,
01:35so you all see what the system is right now with copper wires.
01:39That contract was not over the course of one year or five years.
01:43It was over the course of 15 years.
01:45The last administration signed a 15-year contract to upgrade the telecom.
01:51We need it now.
01:52It shows how there was not a focus on the true issues that the FAA was facing.
01:58And, again, we now see it, and we are not going to pass the buck.
02:02We're actually going to fix it.
02:03We're going to do the work to make sure that we do have a state-of-the-art air traffic control system.
02:08But this should not be a surprise to anybody from the last administration.
02:14Watchdog groups have even told them multiple times, you have a real issue with your air traffic control system.
02:20Fix it.
02:21Outages in Newark.
02:22They probably should have hardened those lines, laid fiber before they moved the Newark airspace to Philly.
02:29Those things weren't done.
02:31But that's looking back.
02:33We're looking forward and talking about what's necessary to fix it.
02:36And, again, I'm proud of the partnership from Verizon that they've laid that line as quickly as they have.
02:42The Port Authority working as hard as they have seven days a week to make sure that runway is completed, not just on time, but I don't overpromise for them, but I think it's going to be done ahead of time.
02:54Really important.
02:55And so we're taking this challenge on fullheartedly.
03:00And, again, we're going to do our part to deliver.
03:02We need Congress to do their part to help us deliver for the American people.
