It is incredibly unlikely this TFR was anything other than a security issue. It would be disastrous folly for any administration, regardless of party affiliation, to ask the FAA to close airspace under the guise of "censorship". Love them or hate them, new agencies have immense power to expose such activities. And no one in the gov't can keep a secret, so word would have been leaked.
Anyone who believes this was done in the name of censorship doesn't understand how things work in D.C. with the DHS and FAA. TFRs are NOT implemented at the whim of a sitting administration. There is a strict policy in place that has to be followed. And the process is public. It's too easy to find out if someone was maleficent in their request for a TFR.
This was likely done to prevent too many UAS in the air. If not, there is always the possibility of collision with those drones being used to monitor the situation. DHS and ICE no doubt had their drones in the air on overwatch. They don't need every Tom and Mary drone owner in the area flying and being in the way. At least in their minds.
The simple facts that they provided a standard method of obtaining permission, and that one agency was granted it so quickly, is proof enough that censorship was never the plan.
Also, it was a 1000'AGL TFR. Renting a helicopter would eliminate the censorship aspect as well.
Common sense (which as well all know is no longer common) should eliminate conspiracy theories from the equation. Unfortunately, it didn't. And although I align closer to the news agency that reported it philosophically, I'm extremely disappointed they chose to politicize the issue.
Because it was never a political issue to begin with.
We can certainly debate the necessity of it. Without more knowledge of the number of drones in the area, I can't necessarily agree with their decision. But I don't have that information. And I know for a fact that there are UAS detection systems (& likely deterrent systems) in that area.
So DHS and everyone else who needed to know, have an exact count of UAS incursions. So the TFR could have been a response to too many UAS in the area, or it could have been a preventative TFR for security reasons.
But again, the odds of censorship being the driving reason is astronomical.
This isn't a political issue. And it shouldn't be discussed as one in the forums.
www.foxnews.com
