Congress & the Public Got 2 Different El Paso Stories. Was it a UFO?

On Tuesday night, the FAA shut down all airspace over El Paso, Texas for a planned ten days, grounding every commercial, cargo, and medical flight in a 10-nautical-mile radius up to 18,000 feet. The agency classified it as National Defense Airspace, warning that violating aircraft could face interception, detention, or even deadly force. It was the most extreme airspace action over a major American city since September 11, 2001.

The official explanation quickly fell apart. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who also served as acting administrator for NASA for approximately five months, told the public the shutdown was in response to cartel drone incursions that had been neutralized. But according to NBC News, members of Congress received a very different story during classified briefings Wednesday morning. They were told the shutdown was triggered by the Pentagon’s premature testing of a high-energy laser counter-drone system near Fort Bliss, and that the FAA Administrator acted without notifying the White House, the Pentagon, or local officials. Representative Veronica Escobar, who represents El Paso, said publicly that the administration’s story does not add up.

Journalist Matt Laslo from Ask a Pol caught Senator Martin Heinrich immediately after the classified briefing. Heinrich stated directly that at no time was El Paso under threat, the airport was never under threat, and at no point was there a need to shut down the airport. When Laslo pressed further, asking about the Pentagon now having lasers to take down drones when last he heard the Pentagon did not even know what the objects were, at least over Langley, Heinrich responded only with “I told you what I can tell you.” That exchange is big. A sitting senator walks out of a classified briefing and says there was zero threat, while the FAA had just classified the airspace under national defense with warnings of lethal force. One agency says national defense. A senator with classified intelligence says no threat existed. Those two statements cannot both be true.

Heinrich’s reference point matters as well. Laslo brought up the Langley Air Force Base drone mystery from December 2023, when unidentified drones swarmed one of the most secure military installations in the country for 17 straight nights. According to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the Langley incursions in October 2024, those objects were estimated at 20 feet long, flew over 100 mph, operated on frequencies that did not match commercial drones, and moved in coordinated patterns. AARO, the office created specifically to investigate UFOs, was brought in alongside the FBI, and to this day the identity of those objects remains unknown. The fact that Laslo connected El Paso directly to an unresolved UFO investigation, and Heinrich did not push back on that connection, speaks volumes.

CBS News

Adding to the confusion, CBS News reported that the military’s laser system was used to shoot down four mylar party balloons near the border that had been misidentified as foreign drones. At least one actual cartel drone was also reportedly disabled, but the Pentagon provided no detailed breakdown of targets. Homeland security expert Juliette Kayyem addressed the laser technology directly on PBS NewsHour, explaining that the public does not know the full capacity of this high-energy laser system but that it is suspected it could probably bring down a commercial airplane. She said the FAA got nervous, did not know what was happening in the sky, and made a sweeping judgment. Kayyem went further, calling the cartel drone story a false story and noting that according to NORAD, thousands of drone incursions happen between Mexico and the United States monthly, meaning there was nothing new about a drone incursion. She pointed out that even when the US bombed in Venezuela, the no-fly restriction was only one day, making the ten-day designation over El Paso far more extreme than wartime measures.

The situation drew comparisons to the Chinese balloon event of February 2023, when several objects were shot down over the United States and the government similarly struggled to provide consistent explanations. Meanwhile, video from the El Paso airport’s own live cameras began circulating on social media showing what appeared to be strange lights in the sky during the closure. No authority confirmed any connection, but the pattern of unidentified aerial activity over sensitive locations continues to grow, from Langley to the Nevada National Security Site to Edwards Air Force Base to the New Jersey drone scare of late 2024. Each time, objects appear, the government labels them drones with little evidence, and deeper questions go unanswered.

El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson held a press conference condemning the lack of communication, noting that the city woke up at midnight to calls that the airspace had been shut down with no prior coordination. Medical evacuations were diverted nearly 60 miles to Las Cruces, New Mexico, and surgical equipment from Dallas never arrived. As of Wednesday, a similar flight restriction around Santa Teresa, New Mexico, roughly 15 miles from El Paso, remained active with no explanation from the FAA. 

Sources

Ask a Pol [@AskaPol_UAPs]. (2026, February 12). “At no time was El Paso under threat, the airport under threat and at no point was there a need to shut down the airport,” Intel Committee member Sen. Martin Heinrich tells @MattLaslo. [Video attached] [Post]. X. https://x.com/AskaPol_UAPs/status/2021752207972929721

FAA temporarily shuts down El Paso airspace. (2026, February 12). [Video]. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/flights-el-paso-airport-texas-halted-10-days-security-reasons-faa-rcna258497

Jacobs, J., Montoya-Galvez, C., Watson, E., Rinaldi, O., & Van Cleave, K. (2026, February 12). Airspace closure followed spat over drone-related tests and party balloon shoot-down, sources say. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/airspace-closure-followed-spat-over-drone-related-tests-and-party-balloon-shoot-down-sources-say/

LiveNOW from FOX. (2026, February 11). FAA lifts temporary closure of El Paso Airspace [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2zrQMfj5OY

Lubold, G., Seligman, L., & Viswanatha, A. (2024, October 12). Mystery Drones Swarmed a U.S. Military Base for 17 Days. The Pentagon Is Stumped. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/drones-military-pentagon-defense-331871f4

Ovniologia. (2026, February 11). El Paso Airport, Texas, closed for 10 days for ‘special security reasons’ Ovniologia. https://ovniologia.com.br/2026/02/el-paso-airport-texas-closed-for-10-days-for-special-security-reasons.html

PBS NewsHour. (2026, February 11). What caused the sudden and confusing closure of El Paso’s airspace [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Id-depkrYs

Towne, R. (2026, February 12). FAA imposes, then lifts 10 day restriction on airspace around El Paso. KOB.com. https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/southeast-new-mexico/faa-imposes-then-lifts-10-day-restriction-on-airspace-around-el-paso/

WFAA. (2026, February 11). FAA airspace closure: El Paso officials give an update on hours-long airspace closure | Full presser [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkfjFRfdUdE