Overview

• The Department of Transportation contracted Alex Spiro’s firm for up to $2.1 million to examine whether DEI policies influenced air traffic hiring and recent safety incidents.
• Scope-of-work documents detail interviews with 10–15 stakeholders, statistical analysis and legal memos, with fees rising by $200,000–$300,000 for each extra week and $10,000–$15,000 per additional interview.
• Several air traffic controllers say standard certification processes still apply to all hires and describe the multimillion-dollar probe as a misallocation of resources.
• The FAA is grappling with a shortage of controllers and technology outages that have contributed to flight delays and operational strain.
• Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s earlier “Woke Rescission” memo directed the rollback of Biden-era diversity initiatives and set the stage for this investigation.