By Rick Adams, FRAeS
When we traveled to St. Petersburg several years ago – at the invitation of a friend – I was afraid, as we arrived at airport customs, that they would not let me into the country. When I crossed the red line and entered Russia, I was then afraid they wouldn’t let me out.
I had much the same feeling last week enroute to the US.
International visitors to the United States are now facing similar palpable fears: that they might be detained, questioned, deported, even thrown in prison. For what crime? For expressing views which are contrary to the policies of the current US administration.
I have just returned, with relief, from an aviation training conference in Florida. (You can probably figure out which one.) After hearing last month about the French scientist, traveling to a technical conference in Texas, who was denied entry because his phone contained messages shared with colleagues… messages that challenge new US anti-science policies… I became concerned about what border officials might find objectionable on my Swiss phone or computer. So I bought a new ‘clean’ computer and spent hours scrubbing my mobile of text messages, commentaries, memes and photos which some over-aggressive agent could construe as anti-administration. Several European colleagues later told me they did the same, one of them the conference chair.
I obviously made it through the checkpoint without incident (maybe the innocent old man appearance). But at least three conference attendees did not – one of them a featured speaker and two exhibitors. At the US border, they had their French passports confiscated, and they were escorted into a room for ‘enhanced vetting,’ told nothing, and required to wait for an hour or so before being questioned. Eventually they were allowed to leave and caught a connecting flight to Florida.
This weaponization of freedom of speech, which is antithetical to once-core American and Western values, threatens to decimate the exchange of ideas between professionals in the US and their international colleagues. Not just in the aviation sector but in all aspects of business.
International subject experts will decline to travel to US conferences. Americans will be, at best, unwelcome at European, Asian, Canadian and events in other countries. Also missing will be the free-flowing follow-up exchanges from networking contacts made at such events. Perhaps new non-US networks will form and Americans will be left out of the conversations. US-based events will become smaller and more introverted.
And not just events. Potential partners or customers of American companies, from Boeing to X, may not be allowed to visit the US to discuss deals or project progress. Already, tourism to America has dropped dramatically; airlines, airports, car rentals and hotels will suffer. Dozens of countries, mostly longtime US allies such as the UK and Denmark, have issued travel warnings about the States. Internationals are choosing to ‘self-deport’ and simply not bother with the hassle of attempting to journey to the land-of-the-no-longer-free.
At the aviation training conference, in the Pilot Track alone, 28 of the 46 speakers and moderators (about 60%) spoke with non-American accents. They were either currently or originally from countries such as Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK and others.
Well over half of the exhibiting companies, by my quick estimate, are ‘foreign’-headquartered.
What would the conference have been if some or all of them had not been allowed in? Significantly limited in value, I would say.
Is this a business issue? Of course it is.
Is this an aviation safety issue? Of course it is.
Sharing innovative ideas and best practices contributes to safety; not sharing increases risk.
Image courtesy D-L Nelson / Midjourney AI