El Paso Airspace Closure, Federal Government Messaging Shows 'Breakdown'

The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) sudden closure of El Paso, Texas, airspace on Wednesday for what they said could last for up to 10 days did not last long, with one ex-Army soldier and intelligence expert deeming the situation a “breakdown" in communication.

Early morning correspondence issued by the FAA connected the 10-day closure to “special security reasons” requiring all flights—cargo, commercial, general—to be grounded with relatively no warning. The situation also reportedly left the local El Paso Airport and pilots in the area in the dark, provided little to no notice of the federal government’s plans or actions.

After that FAA closure was issued and originally intended to last until Feb. 21, the threat was deemed dealt with a couple hours later.

Stefano Ritondale is a former U.S. Army officer who in 2018 was deployed to the southern U.S.-Mexico border. On another occasion he traveled to Mexico for a month and trained the Mexican military on counter-cartel operations when he was with his battalion.

As someone who has lived in El Paso for a decade and has experience with border operations, he told Military.com that the protocols screamed of “sloppiness” across inter-government agencies—especially due to the ubiquity of drones across borders, be it in El Paso or San Diego.

“This is very normal. … The problem is, this is going to happen more and more and more because drones are the new normal; drones are going to be operating,” Ritondale said.

I think what this shows is there was a breakdown just within the federal government. Clearly the FAA and the Department of Transportation [were] not talking to the DOD, right?

He said the 10-day NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) shutdown of airspace over El Paso made little to no sense considering the size and population of the city. He speculated that communications became muzzled from Joint Task Force Southern Border up to NORTHCOM, and then within the DOW, the base command within Fort Bliss, and then with the FAA. 

“I think this was just a cluster of mistakes where they felt like the helicopter's pilots or like whatever assets were flying felt threatened,” Ritondale said. “They took a drastic response to address it without properly communicating across the chain of, hey, this has broad implications because if you look at the airport, it's not away from the city; it’s smack dab in the middle.”

He was also left “kind of scratching my head” when he heard the initial announcement, wondering why El Paso International Airport is the one that got the NOTAM but not Juarez Airport.

“It shows there was an emergency and then this was a drastic response that just wasn't coordinated properly,” he added.

Timeline of Closure, Reopening

The FAA announced on social media that the 10-day NOTAM was swiftly lifted.

“The temporary closure of airspace over El Paso has been lifted. There is no threat to commercial aviation. All flights will resume as normal,” the FAA wrote on X at 8:54 a.m. ET.

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also wrote on X: “The FAA and DOW [Department of War] acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion. The threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region. The restrictions have been lifted and normal flights are resuming.”

Military.com reached out for comment to the FAA and Department of Homeland Security, in addition to the El Paso mayor, council members and the El Paso Airport.

Questions remain about the 10-day timeline and whether the closure was done to respond to urgent threats, or whether it was planned in advance.

Military.com asked the Pentagon about the confusion of the messaging, notably the 10-day NOTAM.

Mexican cartel drones breached U.S. airspace. The Department of War took action to disable the drones. The FAA and DOW have determined there is no threat to commercial travel. - Trump administration official to Military.com

Social media users continue to question the NOTAM and 10-day warnings, and the speedy turnaround on mitigating the supposed threats in a matter of a couple short hours.

'Sloppiness' in the Situation's Handling

Ritondale is also co-founder and chief Intelligence officer at Artorias, an AI-driven intelligence analysis company that uses mostly open-source intelligence that leverages artificial intelligence for geopolitical and threat assessments and security. His X account, All Source News, routinely covers Mexican cartel operations.

He told Military.com that it’s not unusual to have small U.S. helicopters in such areas to conduct Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions to support border patrol operations and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents.

Such operations typically take place around El Paso, where a drive from the city’s downtown area to the border could be accomplished in less than 10 miles, or 30 minutes or less.

“These drones were probably active, were acting much more aggressively, to the point where some of these helicopter pilots said, ‘OK, hey, this is like not what we've generally seen in the past, a little bit more threatening,’ and that's why we saw the DOW take the measures it took,” Ritondale said.

That leads to Counter-UAS (Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System) operations in a major metropolitan area. But as Ritondale pointed out, behavior like this on the border is normal and standard operating procedure rather than a rarity.

However, based on everything he’s learned so far about the situation, he deemed it “sloppiness” in the way it was handled by these federal agencies.

Cartels and Smugglers

Ritondale noted that commentary about drug cartels and human smugglers are not mutually exclusive, saying that most of the human smuggling operations U.S. authorities tend to see across the border are actually human smuggling organizations that in many cases actually operate independently from a cartel—and even sometimes pay a fee. 

“Now, there are certain cartels that are heavily involved in smuggling operations, and others that are just like, ‘Hey, give us a slice of your money.’ You run the op, but you're operating in our plaza, you give us money, right?” he said.

He said the Juarez Cartel, for example, is one of those cartels more involved in human smuggling like others compared to others, like the Northeast Cartel. The reason why is they don't control any of the drug production where drugs are produced.

The Juarez Cartel is the primary cartel in Juarez, with the other being the Sinaloa Cartel. There are other small cells of other groups.

But Ritondale pointed out how the group or individuals responsible for these threats have not been disclosed. Also, it could not be cartels at all and perhaps human smuggling organizations with no connection to said cartels.

Generally this type of thing when it happens, it's not good for business, right? They don't want this attention just right at them.

He added that the Jaurez cartel is not designated in February 2025 by the U.S. State Department as one of six Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) including other Mexican cartels, which leads to further questions.

“I don't understand why the Juarez Cartel wasn't an FTO,” he added. “If you're gonna put the United Cartels as an FTO, why the hell are you not going to put the Juarez Cartel? Many people never understood why the State Department didn't add them to it.”

He added: “I just don't see them liking this for business. They generally like things quiet. They don't necessarily like when they get too much attention in El Paso, and this is generally one of the things that is just a huge media uproar. The focus is on them.”