Rather stunning news out of southwestern Texas this morning: The FAA announced suddenly that it is shutting down the airspace over the entire city of El Paso (as well as parts of southeastern New Mexico), barring all plane traffic into or out of El Paso International Airport for the next ten days. El Paso city council members are adamant that they were given zero advance warning. To say this is a major travel inconvenience is an understatement: El Paso is hours away from any other major city by car.

Everybody is scratching their heads wondering what will happen next. Are we about to hit the cartels? Are we about to get a grand reopening of the Donald J. Trump El Paso International Airport? I would look instead to Fort Bliss, the major Army installation nearby which spans both states in its vast size. Something big is either about to happen involving military aviation, or some kind of threat has been detected. Until then we wonder.

Update: Well that was fast, and equally mysterious. From the FAA, mere minutes later: “The temporary closure of airspace over El Paso has been lifted. There is no threat to commercial aviation. All flights will resume as normal.” Now I have even more questions.