A U.S. aviation official reveals that there has been hot link between air traffic controllers at Washington National Airport and the Pentagon for three years, suggesting a lack of coordination between the two departments.

“A hotline connecting Reagan National Airport and their counterparts at the Pentagon had been inoperable since March 2022,” Franklin McIntosh, the deputy head of air traffic control, testified at a Senate hearing Wednesday.

McIntosh also confirmed that the Federal Aviation Administration has been weighing suspending an agreement with the military over flights. “We’re insisting on that line to be fixed before we resume any operations out of the Pentagon,” he said.

According to the official, the hotline is maintained by the Defense Department and aviation officials learned the issue after controllers ordered two flights to abandon landing attempts this month as an army helicopter was heading to the Pentagon.

The revelation comes as there have been 44 deadly aviation crashes in the United States in 2025, leaving over 150 people dead.

One of the helicopters of a Virginia-based Army unit collided with an American Airlines regional jet in January, resulting in 67 deaths.

There has been a string of other crashes and mishaps, the latest being the radar and communications systems failure twice in Newark over the past two-and-a-half weeks.

The disconnection of the hotline between National Airport and the Pentagon has raised multiple questions, with pointing to a lack of government efficiency and accountability.

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