Mike Whitaker, the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration who implemented in “diversity, equity, inclusion” hiring, rather than focusing on safety at the agency, has submitted his resignation.
Whitaker announced he will leave his job the day Donald Trump is sworn in, Jan. 20, 2025.
Under Whitaker, the FAA created a policy to hire people with severe psychiatric problems and profound deafness “on the spot.”
It’s unlikely that Trump would keep Whitaker on. Earlier this year, a dozen attorneys general, led by Republican AG Kris Kobach of Kansas, wrote to Whitaker about how his hiring quotas have put the public in danger.
“FAA has placed ‘diversity’ bean counting over safety and expertise, and we worry that such misordered priorities could be catastrophic for American travelers,” and “appears to prioritize virtue-signaling ‘diversity’ efforts over aviation expertise.”
In the FAA’s hiring policy under the Biden Administration, it targets certain conditions for hiring preference, including:
- Hearing (total deafness in both ears)
- Vision (Blind)
- Missing Extremities
- Partial Paralysis
- Complete Paralysis, Epilepsy
- Severe intellectual disability
- Psychiatric disability
- Dwarfism
“Individuals with targeted disabilities have the greatest difficulty obtaining employment. This is the only protected group for which Federal agencies may have a hiring goal,” the FAA says on its target web page.
According to the FAA, people with these disabilities can be hired “on the spot.”
The on-the-spot special appointment authority is a non-competitive hiring method for filling vacancies for people with disabilities. Full benefits are awarded to the non-competitive appointee.
The FAA also announced that managers can choose, at their own discretion, to fill an open position through on-the-spot hiring process.
“The Office of Civil Rights National People with Disabilities Program Manager and Human Resource Management Selective Placement Coordinators share non-competitive position descriptions with a broad network of disability employment collaborators to recruit qualified applicants with disabilities,” the agency says in its policy.
President-elect Donald Trump has not yet named his nominee for the FAA.
If you’ve ever worked in and/or around an FAA Tower, understanding the critical roles these Controllers play, “Common Sense … Reason … Logic” will most assuredly prevail over this woke endeavor whereby their hyper-focus is hiring individuals with impediments // deficiencies such as:
… Hearing (total deafness in both ears)
… Vision (Blind)
… Missing Extremities
… Partial Paralysis
… Complete Paralysis, Epilepsy
… Severe intellectual disability
… Psychiatric disability
… Dwarfism
This is also the same guy who has been leading FAA launch license harassment of Elon Musk and SpaceX during Starship development. Good riddance. Cheers –
This is one area especially that only the best should be involved. Especially in the area of air tower functions. Common sense. The pressure of flight safety is tough enough even on a well vetted individual.