On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” Director of I.T. and Cybersecurity for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) Kevin Walsh stated that the systems for air traffic controllers have to be modernized and relying on the old systems that we currently do increases the danger and that while the FAA is working to modernize the system, the agency is “going pretty slow.” And “It generally takes them about a decade to modernize a system.” So, the GAO wants them to pick up the pace.
Co-host Lawrence Jones played video of Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) saying, [relevant exchange begins around 1:30] “We are looking at a display that it looks like it’s 40 years old, but maybe it’s 25 years old. Anybody who looks at this screen and wonders how is this 2025 and this is the state of the art for air traffic control in the United States of America is really perplexed.”
Walsh responded, “Spot on. Yep. We rely on these old systems, which, sadly, is increasing our risk. The FAA is working to modernize it, but they’re also going pretty slow. It generally takes them about a decade to modernize a system. So, we’re encouraging them to move faster.”
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