Senate Committee Threatens to Subpoena Army If It Doesn’t Release Helicopter Safety Memo

The Senate Commerce Committee may subpoena the Army for a report that explains why it repeatedly failed to utilize a safety system called ADS-B on helicopter flights near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, its chair, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), said on April 2.

When an Army Black Hawk helicopter on a routine training mission collided midair with an American Airlines regional jet descending for a landing on Jan. 29, killing 67 people, it did not have that system operating.

Both Cruz and Ranking Member Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) demanded that the Army release the report to them by Friday.

During opening statements at the Wednesday hearing, Cruz said the committee planned to issue a subpoena if the army continues to withhold the helicopter safety report.

“It begs the question, what doesn’t the Army want Congress and the American people to know about why it was flying partially blind?” Cruz said. “This is not acceptable.”

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Cruz issued a warning to the Army if it failed to comply.

“If there is another accident, if another Black Hawk helicopter strikes another passenger jet and murders 67 people because the Army refused to change its policy of turning off ADS-B, and rather than act proactively to protect people’s lives, the army chose to protect its bureaucratic [expletive],” he said. “Those deaths will be on the Army’s hands.”

The Army did not immediately respond to a request for comment by publication time. Earlier this week, it said it would communicate directly with the lawmakers.

Cruz said the responsible decision would be for the Army to release the report on Wednesday.

“If the army continues to stonewall, they will face a subpoena from this committee.”

Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) is an advanced surveillance technology that relays the location of an aircraft.

While civilian airplanes are required to use ADS-B, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2019 gave the military an exemption in rare situations. Senators have said the military rarely, if ever, uses the technology during training flights in Washington.

“It is not credible to assert that each of the several thousand helicopter flights operated annually in the National Capital Region is sufficiently sensitive to merit a blanket exemption to operate without a critical safety feature like ADS-B Out activated,” Cantwell wrote in a letter to Hegseth earlier this month.

On Monday, the FAA said it sent notices last week to the Pentagon, the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and NASA mandating the use of ADS-B near Reagan National outside of cases such as “active national security missions.”

The FAA also released a statement on Wednesday saying it would increase support and oversight for the air traffic controller team at Reagan National Airport, which will see the Operational Supervisor staff grow from six to eight.

The agency is also reviewing the airport’s per-hour aircraft arrival rate, “which is disproportionately concentrated within the last 30 minutes of each hour,” it said.

Reuters contributed to this report.