"I Don't Remember What I Said!"

DOGE cuts threaten TSA canine units as Trump White House praises 'heroic working dogs'

Some aviation experts are warning that the Trump Administration's mass layoffs of federal workers, which are being carried out with the help of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), will make air travel less safe.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is among the many federal agencies that the Trump Administration and DOGE are targeting for layoffs, and aviation experts are saying that firing air traffic controllers is a very bad idea.

Another agency that is on the Trump/Musk radar for downsizing is the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which falls under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) umbrella. DHA is now headed by Kristi Noem, a Trump loyalist who formerly served as South Dakota governor.

In an op-ed published by The Tennessean on March 1, Roberts argued that it was still safe to fly during President Donald Trump's second term — but less safe than in the past. And he stood by that argument during the March 11 "Morning Joe" broadcast.

Roberts told Scarborough, Brzezinski, Stanley-Becker and Jong-Fast, "The first priority of crew members is the safety and security of our passengers. And unfortunately, these reckless Trump Administration cuts are making that job much more difficult. And that doesn't just impact the crew members, obviously. That impacts the 3 million Americans who travel daily in the United States."

The aviation worker continued, "So, I really want to drive home the point that yes, air travel is still the safest form of transportation in our country, but that reality is not inevitable. And it didn't happen by accident, and these reckless cuts by the Trump Administration are making that reality less so. So, I felt obliged to write this op-ed in The Tennessean, because this is a personal issue for me; my mother was a flight attendant for over 20 years…. I really want to get out the message that these reckless cuts are doing damage."

Stanley-Becker noted that the Trump Administration/DOGE buyout offer for federal workers was e-mailed to everyone in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), including air traffic controllers and others in "key safety roles."

Stanley-Becker told the panel, "It set off just absolute alarm inside the agency about the possibility that air traffic controllers would be sacrificed as part of this reduction."

While preventing airplane crashes is a high priority of FAA, TSA is focused on airport security and trying to prevent tragedies like the 9/11 hijackings. Bomb-sniffing dogs are an important tool for TSA, but according to Fox News' Jennifer Griffin, TSA's tools aren't immune to Trump/DOGE cuts.

On Thursday, March 13, the Trump White House posted a tweet celebrating "heroic working dogs" and the role they play in national security.

But Griffin tweeted, "DOGE cuts at TSA hit Canine (K-9) bomb sniffing units as the White House celebrates K9 Veterans Day."

Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell, in response, tweeted, "DOGE has decided to stop feeding the bomb-sniffing dogs at TSA?"