There was also a lawsuit against the last Sec of Transportation which I believe was related but not too sure.
What reports, specifically?
FAA ATC has been underfunded and understaffed for years. That has nothing to do with DEI.
You should be clear what you mean by saying this is DEI: you (and POTUS) are saying "they hired too many female and/or black air traffic controllers, passing over superior white male applicants, thus leading to this accident".
Air traffic controllers go through objective standards-based training and testing. Are you proposing that the FAA is applying lower standards based on gender or skin color?
There is and has been a shortage of applicants for the past few years. Many controllers are over-worked with excess hours and little to no vacation time. Shifts are often under-staffed.
But it appears the FAA did have some kind of "biographical questionnaire" that was not objective and standards based. I'm 100% against that kind of system or anything else that seems like a quota. Making an effort to recruit from all communities and making a welcoming environment is good. Lowering standards is not.
The other thing I'll stand behind is the ATC pipeline has not been fully-staffed for a very long time, pre-dating COVID and the even earlier biographical questionnaire. It appears both of those things made it worse (independently).
For context, the heads of the FAA and TSA are supposed to serve 5-year terms. The FAA Admin (Michael Whitaker) who was forced out started serving in Oct 2023. The TSA Admin (David Pekoske) was first appointed in 2017, and then nominated for another 5-year term in 2022.
As far as I'm aware, this is the first time those positions have ever been told to resign by a new administration.