The US Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz has expressed outrage over the US Army’s failure to provide a memo relating to its use of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) in the National Capital Region.
On March 31, 2025, Senator Cruz and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell said the US Army’s refusal to hand over the memo was “completely unacceptable” as the committee investigates the January 29, 2025, midair crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).
“During last week’s hearing on the tragic crash at DCA that killed 67 people, and in a subsequent joint letter, we requested that the Department of Defense provide the Commerce Committee with a memo from August 2024 outlining its policies and procedures regarding the use—or lack thereof—of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) in the airspace around our nation’s capital,” the Commerce Committee said in a statement.
The committee added: “It is completely unacceptable that our request has been repeatedly ignored, and that the Army continues to obstruct the Committee’s investigation into this horrific accident. We will consider using every option at our disposal to produce compliance and to ensure our investigation yields the answers the victims’ families and the American people deserve.”
The committee said that the US Army was asked in March 2025 to provide the memo and at a recent subcommittee hearing on March 27, 2025, Brigadier General Matthew Braman had refused to commit to providing the document, citing an ongoing investigation.
However, at the same subcommittee the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy said that the agency’s investigation does not preclude the Department of Defense from sharing the memo.
The US Army Black Hawk helicopter did not have ADS-B operating when it collided with an American Eagle Bombardier CRJ700 in Washington DC.
The ADS-B is an advanced surveillance technology that provides an aircraft’s location to air traffic control and other aircraft pilots.
Since 2019 under specific circumstances the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has permitted military aircraft to turn off their ADS-B during flights.
Senator Cruz believes that the missing memo outlines policies and procedures for the US Army’s use of ADS-B in the National Capital Region.
Separately Homendy has said that no ADS-B data for the accident Black Hawk helicopter had been received from an FAA ground station for 730 days prior to the crash.
