Clusterfuck Squared

 Not insidious:

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.

Just grossly incompetent. Wait for it...

Earlier this week, the anti-drone technology was launched near the southern border to shoot down what appeared to be foreign drones. The flying material turned out to be a party balloon, sources said. One balloon was shot down, several sources said.

...

The grounding of all flights, including emergency medical evacuation, touched off a scramble among law enforcement agencies Wednesday morning to figure out what prompted the security message in the so-called NOTAM.

So, nobody in the Administration knew what the fuck was going on.

It was discussed in a regular meeting at White House chief of staff Susie Wiles' office Wednesday morning, and within minutes the FAA lifted the restrictions, sources said.

Gee, I wonder what that was like?

Sources familiar with the discussions said Pentagon and Department of Transportation officials had been coordinating on the military drone tests for months, and the FAA had been assured that there was no threat to commercial air travel.

"Coordinating" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there.

Two airline sources said airline officials were told the decision to halt flights in and out of the El Paso Airport appeared to stem from drone activity and U.S. government efforts to counteract it.

Or party balloons. And DOD's desire to play with its new toy. Which thinks household mylar balloons = drones.

The airlines were under the impression that the airspace closure was put into place out of an abundance of caution because the FAA could not predict where U.S. government drones might be flying. The drones have been operating outside of their normal flight paths. The airlines were also aware of the apparent impasse between the FAA and Pentagon officials over the issue because the Pentagon has been using Fort Bliss for anti-cartel drone operations without sharing information with the FAA, the sources said

Incompetence up and down, and throughout and throughout.