The executive order emphasizes the importance of maintaining excellence and efficiency in the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) hiring practices. It highlights the past administration’s alleged practice of prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives over merit-based hiring, which is deemed illegal and discriminatory.
The order instructs the Secretary of Transportation and the FAA Administrator to immediately reverse these policies and adopt non-discriminatory, merit-based hiring practices. This means that employees will be hired, promoted, and treated based on individual capability, competence, achievement, and dedication, rather than on the basis of characteristics such as race, sex, or disability. The order also requires a review of critical safety positions to ensure that only high-capability individuals are retained in these roles.