Markwayne Mullin: There is no evidence that the FAA ground stop was caused by a cyberattack or nefarious act. Our verdict: True.
Markwayne Mullin made the claim on 13 November 2026, during the nationwide FAA ground stop, as reported by dnyuz.com and ABC News.
Our verdict
True
The claim is accurate. As of 13 November 2026, officials said there was no evidence that the nationwide FAA ground stop was caused by a cyberattack or a nefarious act, and the known cause was a technical failure.
What we found
We reached this verdict because the statement matches what officials said at the time. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said on 13 November 2026 that there was no indication of a nefarious attack, as reported by ABC News and dnyuz.com. The FAA attributed the ground stop to "communication issues", and the administration said there was "zero evidence" of a cyber attack, according to Yahoo News. Reporting by LAist and CNN said the cause was a technical failure, with contract workers inadvertently deleting critical files, not a cyberattack. No source we found contradicted the absence of evidence of a cyberattack or nefarious act as of that date.
The evidence
3 of 6 sources support the claim; none contradict it.
- Background
Markwayne Mullin said on 13 November 2026 that there was no indication the ground stop was a nefarious attack. [1]
- Supports the claim
The ground stop was attributed by the Secretary of Homeland Security to technology upgrades overwhelming the system. [2]
- Background
The administration stated there was no evidence of a cyberattack, and the FAA identified the cause as communication issues. [3]
- Supports the claim
The FAA determined the ground stop was caused by contract workers inadvertently deleting critical files, not a cyberattack or nefarious act. [4]
- Supports the claim
The FAA attributed the ground stop to "communication issues" rather than a cyberattack or nefarious act. [5]
- Background
Markwayne Mullin stated on 13 November 2026 that there was no indication the FAA ground stop was a nefarious attack. [6]
What we could not confirm
- The investigation was still ongoing as of 13 November 2026, so later findings could change the understanding of the cause.
- Independent technical verification of the cause was not available in the sources we found.
How we checked
We looked at official statements from the FAA and the Department of Homeland Security, and at contemporaneous news reports from the New York Times, ABC News, Yahoo News, LAist, CNN and Cleveland.com, all dated 13 or 14 November 2026. We reviewed 8 relevant sources.
Sources
- [1]dnyuz.com · Mullin Says Nationwide Ground Stop Is a Telecommunication Outage · November 14, 2026
- [2]nytimes.com · FAA Lifts Nationwide Ground Stop of Flights: Live Updates · November 13, 2026
- [3]yahoo.com · FAA Lifts Nationwide Ground Stop for Flights, Trump Administration Says ‘Zero Evidence’ of Cyber Attack · November 13, 2026
- [4]laist.com · Old tech blamed for the ground stop that caused flight chaos: 'It got overloaded' · November 13, 2026
- [5]faa.gov · FAA General Statements | Federal Aviation Administration · November 13, 2026
- [6]abcnews.com · FAA issues rare nationwide ground stop; no indication of 'nefarious attack' · November 13, 2026
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