Musk’s SpaceX antennas installed at South Jersey FAA building where DOGE spurred federal worker firings

Following recommendations from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Trump administration has fired 15 or more workers at the Federal Aviation Administration facility in Egg Harbor Township.

The firings came as Musk, the world’s richest man who helped lead a Trump cabinet meeting this week, is poised to take over a $2 billion contract held by Verizon to run the FAA’s communications system for all U.S. air traffic, according to reports from the Associated Press and other outlets.

Already, Musk’s SpaceX company has begun testing Starlink, its worldwide satellite internet system, at the William J. Hughes Technical Center, 10 miles west of Atlantic City. Workers there last Saturday said they saw two Starlink antennas being erected on one of the center’s buildings. On Monday, the FAA confirmed on Musk’s X social media platform that it’s testing a Starlink terminal at Hughes.

If Musk’s company gets the contract, he’ll possess significant business interests in a government agency whose workforce he’s been cutting — a considerable conflict of interest in some experts’ eyes.

Overall, an estimated 400 probationary FAA workers nationwide have been sacked since DOGE began dismissing federal employees earlier this month. The firings, occurring after air disasters in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia last month, sparked anxiety about flying safety. The FAA has maintained that no air traffic controllers were let go, and that flying is safe.

For Robert, 30, one of the fired Hughes workers, his dismissal means putting a planned house purchase with his fiancée on hold.

But what’s almost as bad is being told he was performing poorly just 60 days into his job, by someone who doesn’t know him. “That’s just disgusting,” said Robert, who requested that his full name be withheld because he fears a “vengeful” response to his candor. “In fact, that’s immoral.”

The job Robert had been fired from was identical to the one he’d been doing as a contractor at Hughes for eight years. Further protecting his identity, he described his work only as “helping maintain air traffic safety.”

The exact number let go from the Hughes center, which employs around 4,500 people, isn’t clear. A person who represents FAA employees, and who asked not to be named because they didn’t have authority to speak, said the number was around 19 — though some workers have heard higher figures.

Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, whose 2nd Congressional District in South Jersey includes the Hughes center, told the Press of Atlantic City that it was 15. Van Drew didn’t respond to The Inquirer’s request to delineate the exact number. Neither did officials at Hughes, the FAA, and employees’ unions.

The firings have reverberated throughout Hughes, a sprawling 5,000-acre campus with half-a-million square feet of laboratory space dedicated to researching, engineering, developing, and testing aviation technology to sustain safe flying throughout U.S. airspace.

“The dismissals are taking a toll, said the person who represents FAA employees. “The rest of us still working will keep everyone who flies safe,” they said. “But there’s starting to be a tremendous strain on us.”

In the wake of the backlash to the firings, Musk took a moment on X Thursday to say the FAA needs more people: “There is a shortage of top notch air traffic controllers. If you have retired, but are open to returning to work, please consider doing so.”

Mary, 41, a Hughes worker in a similar job, was affronted by the “cruel, shameful” manner in which she and others were dismissed. She asked that her full name not be used because she fears backlash from speaking out.

The mother of three who was fired six weeks into her probationary period maintains that the dismissals at the center didn’t follow FAA rules.

Agency human resources guidelines state that a termination notice “should include the reason(s) for a termination.” They also say, “At a minimum, the notice must also include the agency’s conclusions as to the inadequacies of the employee’s performance or conduct.”

“There needs to be a paper trail showing proof that an employee wasn’t performing well. No one I know who was fired from the center had anything like that,” Mary said.

The fact that both Mary and Robert were promoted from contractor status to the federal workforce shows that their work was valuable, she said.

Both Mary and Robert were independently critical of Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy’s statement that “no [FAA] professionals who perform critical safety functions were terminated.”

Both said they performed “safety-critical jobs” connected to air traffic control.

Asked for a response, a Transportation Department spokesperson said in a statement, “The FAA continues to hire and onboard air traffic controllers and safety professionals, including mechanics and others who support them. The agency has retained employees who perform safety critical functions.”

Mary said she’s despairing of social media commentators she’s read who declare that firing first-year employees is no loss because they’re not seasoned professionals.

Mary and Robert have a combined 23 years of experience in the same center, doing contractor jobs that were identical to their federal jobs, which come with higher pay and more benefits.

“A lot of invaluable knowledge and skills have been lost by kicking us out,” she said.

The firings were such a surprise, even some administrators at Hughes were caught off guard.

“My bosses were absolutely livid,” said Chris, 49, a fired Occupational Safety and Health Administration specialist who asked not to be fully identified because he’s hopeful he’ll get his job back. “I don’t know if any of this is legal.”

Fired workers are filing lawsuits, Chris noted. He’s mulling whether he’ll join them.

As the terminations roiled the Hughes campus, several workers noticed the Starlink antennas being put up on one of the center’s 250 buildings on Saturday. Another eight are expected, according to a source at Hughes who asked not to be identified because they have no permission to speak for the FAA.

Firing FAA workers while trying to gain the contract “is a direct conflict of interest, and shows the hypocrisy of Musk saying he’s cutting waste and fraud in government when all he’s doing is manipulating federal agencies for his own personal benefit,” said Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist with Public Citizen, a progressive nonprofit that advocates for safeguards against corporate influence in Washington.

“Through his affiliation with DOGE, he’s cutting down agencies and intimidating them not to interfere with his businesses.”

With watchdog entities like inspectors general being pushed out of government, there are few people around to check Musk, who’s already amassed some $38 billion in federal contracts, Holman said.

“He had free rein to amass his fortune. And [President Donald] Trump is protecting him.”

Calls to Musk’s SpaceX offices were not returned. A spokesperson for the White House declined to comment.

Without evidence, Musk wrote on X Thursday that the FAA’s Verizon Communications system for air traffic control “is breaking down very rapidly. The FAA assessment is single digit months to catastrophic failure, putting air traveler safety at serious risk.” He claimed the “situation is extremely dire.”

A person familiar with FAA systems who works at Hughes, and didn’t want to be named because they lack permission to speak on the record, said that “nothing is dire.” The person added, “What Musk is saying is a total fabrication. There’s no catastrophe coming.”

Also on Thursday, Kevin Israel, a Verizon spokesperson, said in a statement that the FAA communications system that Musk is denigrating is not Verizon’s, but an older one that Verizon is replacing.

“We are at the beginning of a multiyear contract to replace antiquated, legacy systems ... and our solution stands ready to be deployed.”

The company Israel referenced, L3Harris, is a defense contractor and technology company based in Melbourne, Fla.

Soon after Israel’s statement came out, Musk corrected himself on X, saying, “Correction: the ancient system that is rapidly declining in capability was made L3Harris. The new system that is not yet operational is from Verizon.”

L3Harris has not responded to a request for comment.

Staff writer Amy S. Rosenberg contributed to this article.