Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has suggested that federal hiring freezes at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) might have contributed to the recent crash of a Mexican navy tall ship into the Brooklyn Bridge, which resulted in fatalities and injuries. Despite the U.S. Coast Guard stating its systems were fully operational, Schumer expressed concern that staffing shortages due to a hiring freeze could have impeded the Vessel Traffic System (VTS), which is critical for maritime navigation. He called for more investigation into the incident and the potential implications of operational dysfunction in the Coast Guard at large.
We know that the Trump administration has been meddling in U.S. Coast Guard operations, from staffing to command and comms, and I have the general sense of a DOGE dysfunction in parts of the Coast Guard, to put it mildly.
There are indications that this service called the VTS may not have been fully or adequately functional in light of that hiring freeze. We don't know the answer to that question.
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