Dear John,
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has plunged into a perilous agenda that puts a DEI agenda above public safety. In a shocking move, the FAA is actively recruiting individuals with "severe intellectual" and "psychiatric" disabilities under the guise of a Diversity and Inclusion initiative. This misguided push threatens the very core of our travel safety and national defense.
The FAA Website States: "Targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the Federal government, as a matter of policy, has identified for special emphasis in recruitment and hiring. They include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability, and dwarfism."
This move by the FAA is embedded in their "Diversity and Inclusion" hiring plan, where they assert that diversity is essential to accomplishing their mission of ensuring safe and efficient travel. The FAA's website reveals that these guidelines were last updated on March 23, 2022, reflecting a concerning commitment to an ill-conceived ideology. It's noteworthy that this initiative is taking place under the oversight of Secretary Pete Buttigieg's Department of Transportation, raising questions about the leadership's priorities. As a government agency entrusted with regulating civil aviation and employing approximately 45,000 people, the FAA's prioritization of diversity over safety is a disconcerting deviation from its primary responsibility of securing our nation's skies.
While major corporations backtrack on DEI-related job postings, the FAA remains obstinate, oblivious to the potential risks they are introducing. As we scrutinize their recent failures, such as the plug door incident on a Boeing 737 Max 9 during an Alaska Airlines flight, it becomes evident that the FAA is more concerned with virtue signaling than ensuring the security of our skies.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk has rightly questioned the wisdom of flying in airplanes where DEI hiring takes precedence over safety. The FAA's insistence on recruiting individuals with "severe" mental and physical disabilities as a diversity initiative raises serious doubts about their priorities.
The US airline industry, a vital component of our nation's economy, employs approximately 804 million people and generated a staggering $779 billion in 2023. This industry's stability and success hinge on the confidence of its workforce, passengers, pilots, and flight attendants in the FAA's ability to ensure public safety. If this confidence is eroded due to the FAA's misguided Diversity and Inclusion initiative, it could lead to a catastrophic loss of trust. The repercussions could be devastating, potentially jeopardizing the entire airline industry and the countless livelihoods dependent on its seamless operation. The FAA must prioritize public safety over misguided diversity quotas to safeguard the future of this crucial sector.
Merit-based hiring that prioritizes public safety should be the cornerstone of any recruitment strategy. It is the FAA's unfortunate deviation from this principle, opting for a potentially risky diversity-focused approach, that draws our criticism. Let us be clear: public safety is paramount, and we advocate for a hiring process that values qualifications and competence above all else.
We cannot allow the FAA to continue down this reckless path. It's time to expose their misguided agenda and demand immediate action to prioritize safety over misguided diversity quotas.
