Fox News' Jeff Paul reports the latest on the reversal after officials announced the airport would be closed for 10 days.

The sudden closure of airspace over El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday, Feb. 11 was a big deal — but likely not for the reason you think.

For years, the Federal Aviation Administration has blocked meaningful action against rogue drones — whether mysterious swarms over sensitive U.S. military bases or increasingly bold incursions by Mexican drug cartels. The FAA’s perennial fear? That military countermeasures, from electronic jamming to kinetic options, might endanger civilian or commercial aircraft.

This paralysis persisted even as threats mounted.

MEXICAN CARTEL DRONES BREACH US AIRSPACE, ARE DISABLED BY WAR DEPARTMENT, DUFFY SAYS

I wrote about this bureaucratic inaction in October 2024, when unidentified drones — some up to 20 feet across — buzzed Langley Air Force Base in Virginia for 17 consecutive nights in late 2023. These intruders flew over the headquarters of Air Combat Command, home to F-22 Raptors, and neared the world’s largest naval station in Norfolk and other critical sites. The Biden-Harris White House was briefed, yet nothing was done. Suggestions to jam signals, deploy directed energy or simply shoot them down were rejected as too risky or unauthorized. A risk-averse culture prioritized avoiding mistakes over defending American soil.

The Feb. 11 incident in El Paso marked a dramatic break from that pattern — and a........

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