President Donald Trump has linked the deaths of 67 people in a mid-air collision between aircraft over Washington DC to diversity, equity and inclusion policies at the US Federal Aviation Administration.
All 64 people and three crew members aboard an American Airlines flight died on Wednesday when a US Army helicopter on a training flight flew into it as it approached Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport at about 9pm local time.
In a press conference held on Thursday, President Trump claimed that one potential underlying reason for the crash was DEI policies and the Democrat party’s role in encouraging them.
He said on Thursday, quoting a report published by Fox News: “‘The FAA’s diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities.’ That is amazing. And then it says FAA … says people with severe disabilities are most underrepresented segment of the workforce, [they] said, ‘They want them in, and they want them, they can be air traffic controllers.’ I don’t think so. This was January 14, so that was a week before I entered office. They put a big push to put diversity into the FAA’s program.”
He added: “Brilliant people have to be in those positions, and their lives are actually shortened, very substantially shortened because of the stress where you have many, many planes coming into one target, and you need a very special talent and a very special genius to be able to do it.
“If we find that people aren’t mentally competent … these are not people who should be doing these particular jobs.”
“We did not know what led to this crash but we have some very strong opinions and ideas,” Trump said.
Last week, Trump’s administration had issued a memo to federal agencies telling them to prepare to lay off staff who work in diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programmes.
Trump connected the diversity policies to former presidents Biden and Obama and was heavily critical of Pete Buttigieg, who was transportation secretary under Joe Biden.
DEI trends
Should HR be worried about Trump’s DEI backlash?
Most business leaders say US retreat on DEI will affect UK policy: survey
Businesses should evaluate their DEI policies – and not backslide
“He was a disaster,” Trump said. “He was a disaster as a mayor, he ran his city into the ground, and he’s a disaster now. He’s just got a good line of bullshit.”
Trump also said Buttigieg ran the transportation department into the ground “with his diversity”.
There were suggestions on Friday that air traffic control for Washington DC was short-staffed on the night.
FAA under fire over DEI
Although no direct connection has yet been made to support Trump’s words, the FAA’s diversity policies have come under fire in recent years. In 2022 it pledged to “diversify its workforce by rethinking its hiring practices”, and administration officials assigned long-term goals aimed at amplifying diversity, accessibility and LGBTQ issues.
The FAA declared a “Year of Inclusion” in 2023 and held a three-day symposium that trained FAA employees to understand the impact of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility and to overcome and unmask “unconscious bias”.
Have you no decency? Have you no respect for the families whose lives have been turned upside down?” – Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic house minority leader
Under President Obama, in 2013, the FAA in 2013 began using a “biographical assessment” to increase hiring of preferred minority racial groups at air traffic control centres. The assessment asked applicants such questions as the number of school sports they participated in and the age they first started earning money. This assessment was dropped in 2018 after being ruled illegal.
It is alleged that the biographical assessment discouraged many suitably qualified people from applying for air traffic control roles, and some claim to have been rejected on the basis of their identity.
In November 2019, attorneys sought class action status in a lawsuit for more than 2,500 aspiring air traffic controllers who they say were harmed by what they described as the FAA’s racially discriminatory hiring policies.
They argue that the Obama administration endangered public safety by prioritising racial politics and owes compensation for the “grave injustice”.
The FAA and the US transport department are contesting the lawsuit, which will be heard early next year.
A White House ‘fact’ sheet published last week stated that President Trump had signed a presidential memorandum “terminating a Biden Administration Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) hiring policy that prioritized diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) over safety and efficiency”. It promised to restore “non discriminatory, merit based training”.
The memorandum required the FAA administrator to review the past performance and performance standards of all FAA employees in critical safety positions and “make clear that any individual who fails to demonstrate adequate capability is replaced by someone who will ensure Americans’ flight safety and efficiency”.
Democrats respond
Democrat leaders reacted furiously to Trump’s insinuation that the crash could have somehow be linked to DEI. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said: “It’s one thing for internet pundits to spew up conspiracy theories. It’s another for the President of the United States of America to throw out idle speculation even as victims are still being recovered, and families are still being notified. It turns your stomach.”
Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic house minority leader, addressing Trump, added: “Have you no decency? Have you no respect for the families whose lives have been turned upside down?”
The FAA’s most recent administrator, Michael Whitaker, resigned when President Trump took office. Whitaker had faced stinging criticism from Trump supporter Elon Musk over the agency’s oversight of his company SpaceX.
On Thursday Christopher Rocheleau, a 22-year FAA veteran,was appointed as acting administrator of the agency.
Latest HR job opportunities on Personnel Today
Browse more human resources jobs
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
