El Paso airspace closure was tied to Mexican cartel drones, officials say, after FAA lifts 10-day grounding

The Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday morning that it has lifted the closure of El Paso's airspace just hours after it said it was halting all flights in and out of the airport for 10 days for what it called "special security reasons." U.S. officials later said the closure was tied to a "cartel drone incursion."

Administration officials told CBS News that the closure was triggered by Mexican cartel drones breaching U.S. airspace. The officials said the Department of Defense took action to disable the drones, and that the FAA and defense officials have determined there is no current threat to commercial travel. 

"There is no threat to commercial aviation. All flights will resume as normal," the FAA said as the closure was lifted.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on social media that the FAA and Department of Defense "acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion" and that the "threat has been normalized." Duffy said there "is no danger to commercial travel in the region" and that normal flights are resuming. 

The FAA said earlier, when the closure was in place, that the area was being classified as "national defense airspace" and warned that the "government may use deadly force" against an airborne aircraft if it's "determined that the aircraft poses an imminent security threat." The airport is across the border from Juarez, Mexico.

Two airline sources said that airlines were given the impression that the closure was done out of an abundance of caution due to the FAA's inability to predict where drones might be flying. U.S. drones have been operating outside of their normal flight paths while using the Biggs Army Airfield near the El Paso Airport for drone operations to counter cartel drones. The FAA and Department of Defense have been at an impasse about how to deal with the issue. Similar communication challenges led to some close calls between military aircraft and commercial flights in the Caribbean. 

The Free Press: The Drone Age Is Already Here

Mayor says airport was "in chaos"

In a news briefing Wednesday morning, El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson criticized the unexpected closure. 

"I want to be very very clear that this should have never happened. You cannot restrict airspace over a major city without coordinating with the city, the airport, the hospitals, the community leadership. That failure to communicate is unacceptable," said Johnson, who said he still had not received an official reason for the closure. 

Johnson said  emergency flights had been grounded and medical evacuations had been diverted, though he did not specify how many flights. He said one plane carrying surgical equipment from Dallas "did not show up here in El Paso." 

Johnson said the city's airport, which has not been closed since 9/11, was "in chaos" after the sudden closure. The El Paso airport typically sees about 55 departures a day involving six major carriers, mainly Southwest Airlines, American and United.

Airlines largely learned about the closure when it was posted. El Paso International Airport issued an advisory on social media overnight saying flights were canceled and travelers should contact their airlines for updated information. The airport said in another statement that the FAA's move was made "on short notice."

The FAA had warned that pilots who didn't comply with the restrictions "may be intercepted, detained and interviewed by law enforcement/security personnel," could be hit with civil penalties and lose their pilot's licenses, and might face criminal charges.

But U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, who represents El Paso, said Wednesday morning that it was her understanding that the decision was not due to Mexican drones, which she said is "not unusual" for the El Paso area. Escobar said she had spoken to the chair of the House Armed Services Committee, who also had not flagged any drone incursions.

"I believe the FAA owes the community and the country an explanation as to why this happened so suddenly and abruptly and why it was lifted so suddenly and abruptly," she said.

Escobar said she learned late Tuesday night about the upcoming closure from a member of the federal workforce, but not from the FAA. She said she notified local leadership in El Paso immediately, who had also not been notified.

"This was an FAA decision and was done without any local consultation and without any local communication," Escobar said. "That is not the way the federal government should operate."Escobar previously called the FAA's decision "highly consequential" and "unprecedented," and said it has "resulted in significant concern within the community."

Sen. Rand Paul, who is the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, told "CBS Mornings" that he was not notified about the closure ahead of time. 

"We're very curious, and in a major airport in a big city, we'd like to know what they're doing and why," Paul said. 

Disagreements between FAA and Pentagon

The unexpected but brief airspace closure in the Texas border city of El Paso stemmed from disagreements between the FAA and Pentagon officials over drone-related tests, multiple sources close to the matter told CBS News. 

The Pentagon had undertaken extensive planning on the use of military technology near Fort Bliss, a military base that abuts the El Paso International Airport, to practice taking down drones. Two sources identified the technology as a high-energy laser.

Meetings were scheduled over safety impacts, but Pentagon officials wanted to test the technology sooner, stating that U.S. Code 130i requirements governing the protection of certain facilities from unmanned aircraft had been met.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford on Tuesday night decided to close the airspace — without alerting White House, Pentagon or Homeland Security officials, sources said. 

Bedford told officials the airspace restrictions would be in place to ensure safety until issues with the War Department could be resolved. The FAA's sudden ban on all flights, including emergency medical evacuation, was discussed in a regular meeting at the White House in chief of staff Susie Wiles' office Wednesday morning, and within minutes the FAA lifted the restrictions, sources said.

The FAA has not yet responded to CBS News' requests for comment. 

Read more on the dispute here.