The Department of Homeland Security paid $464 million for a fleet of 10 used aircraft purchased through a no-bid contract awarded to Daedalus Aviation Corporation, a Virginia firm with no prior federal contracting history and political ties to then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, per New York Times reporting confirmed by Raw Story this morning. The purchase was made by invoking a rarely used exemption for situations of “unusual and compelling urgency,” with DHS saying the planes were needed immediately to support deportation flights. Months later, most of the fleet sits largely idle, the deportation mission has been reassigned, and both Noem and her successor Markwayne Mullin are pointing at each other to explain who is responsible for spending $464 million on planes that are mostly parked at an airport in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
The fleet breakdown is worth itemizing. Three of the 10 aircraft are luxury business jets, the kind of planes used by corporate executives for private travel rather than by government agencies for mass deportation operations. One of those luxury jets has been leased to the FBI, specifically to support the travel of FBI Director Kash Patel. The second luxury jet was offered to the Pentagon and rejected. The third luxury jet’s current status is unclear from public records. The remaining seven aircraft are Boeing 737s, the type of plane used for large-group deportation flights and more appropriate to the stated mission of the purchase. Those seven are parked at Lake Charles Regional Airport for extended stretches, per an internal government document, because DHS lacks sufficient staff to fly them.
To restate the arithmetic: DHS spent $464 million on 10 planes, three of which are luxury jets that were not acquired for deportation flights, one of which is being used to fly the FBI director around, seven of which are sitting at a Louisiana airport because there is no one to operate them. The “unusual and compelling urgency” that justified the no-bid contract produced a fleet that is not being used urgently.
The contractor, Daedalus Aviation Corporation, has a political connection that DHS has not fully addressed. The company’s chairman, William Walters, previously donated to a political committee connected to Noem when she was South Dakota’s governor. Walters, through a company spokesman, said he was unaware of the committee’s connection to Noem. Daedalus had no prior federal contracting record before receiving this $464 million contract. DHS awarded it through the “unusual and compelling urgency” exemption, which bypasses the standard competitive bidding process that exists precisely to prevent the government from paying $464 million to a company with no track record and a connection to the agency’s leader.
DHS and Noem are now engaged in a public blame exchange that is documented by the contracting records. DHS told reporters the Daedalus contract “was made and approved by department leadership before Secretary Markwayne Mullin was sworn in”, pointing at Noem, who was fired by Trump in March. A spokeswoman for Noem pushed back, saying the purchase was “finalized” once Mullin took over. The contracting records show the contract’s value jumped by $303 million on the exact day Mullin was sworn in as DHS secretary. $303 million in additional contract value on day one of a new secretary’s tenure, for a contract his predecessor’s team originated, with a company connected to his predecessor, for a fleet of planes that mostly sit unused. Both sides are describing this situation accurately. They are also both describing the situation their decisions produced.
Democratic Sens. Patty Murray and Chris Murphy, both on the Appropriations Committee, sent DHS a letter this week demanding “a full accounting,” noting that department staff had already conceded most of the planes would not be used for deportations after all. The planes were purchased for deportations. The deportation mission has evolved. DHS now says it needs a new contractor just to keep the existing planes airworthy, with that arrangement not expected to begin until next summer.
This is not the first time Noem’s DHS tenure produced a major procurement reversal. Under her leadership, DHS spent more than $700 million acquiring detention warehouses, only for the agency to begin giving or selling them off months later under Mullin. Two major acquisitions, both reversed or largely unused, both initiated under Noem, both now the subject of congressional scrutiny. The planes are parked in Louisiana. The luxury jet is flying Kash Patel. The contractor had no prior experience. Noem and Mullin are blaming each other.
When DHS pays $464 million for a deportation fleet through a no-bid contract with a company that had no prior contracts and then parks most of the planes unused, what exactly was the urgency for?
Sources
Raw Story: Kristi Noem points finger at Markwayne Mullin over mystery fleet of luxury planes
