General Discussion

the story, as we currently understand it, is that DHS has been testing this laser, which was "on loan" from the military, for some time in El Paso, DHS did this at risk. FAA recognized the risk to public safety and enacted the shutdown because of the recklessness of DHS, and (my speculation) as a CYA move to prevent being the scapegoat. "they", the military, took no action to protect civilian air traffic. the whole story was clear as mud, and readers made the best judgement they could of the situation given the information available.

it currently seems that someone in the FAA deserves a lot of credit.

that said, cartel drones are a real problem. is it a problem that justifies using dangerous new weapons over US cities without coordination of other federal agencies?