The Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop for all departing flights on Friday “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.” The extraordinary circumstances weren’t explained, but Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on X that a “communication issue” is “impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.”
The ground stop was issued at 3:54 p.m. ET, according to the Air Traffic Control System Command Center. The website where the FAA posts alerts appears to be working only intermittently.
A spokesperson for the FAA confirmed to Gizmodo that a ground stop had been issued but didn’t provide any further information about what caused it or when it might be lifted.
“The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following communication issues impacting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide updates,” the spokesperson said.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy shared an identical statement on X.
The @FAAnews issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them.
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) November 13, 2026
A spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey told Gizmodo it is referring all questions to the FAA and that they did not know if planes were currently taking off at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
FlightAware’s so-called Misery Map is just a sea of red right now, with at least 2,400 delays listed and 38 cancellations.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin briefed reporters outside the White House and said there’s “no indication this was a nefarious attack.” When a reporter asked for clarification, he said he didn’t want to get ahead of himself but stressed “everyone is safe.” He suggested “that’s not known” when the issue of a cyberattack was raised.
Mullin, a former senator who often has difficultly forming coherent sentences, said, “this isn’t a safety to the American people or another 9/11.” His point seemed to be that Americans weren’t in imminent danger, even if the technical problems did wind up being caused by a cyberattack.
“Everybody is safe. The flights are accounted for. And there should be no fear to the public at all on this one,” said Mullin, who noted that President Trump had been briefed.
Q: There are thoughts that this could be an AI related issue—MARKWAYNE MULLIN: We call it SI, remember. You can't rule out anything at this point
When asked about whether the AI rollout at FAA that was scheduled for today had anything to do with the ground stop, Mullin said: “We’re looking at that. That’s part of something that obviously, through CISA at DHS, we are taking a look… working with our counterparts throughout all agencies.”
Mullin chided a reporter for calling it AI instead of “SI,” the preferred term of Trump regime officials ever since the president decided to call it “super intelligence.”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
