A source told the Tribune that Defense Department drones spurred the announced closure, but the White House said unmanned craft were flown by Mexican cartels.

The Federal Aviation Administration is charged with flight safety, and the Defense Department with national security. Those missions keep colliding.

Aviation officials shut down the airspace over El Paso after Customs and Border Protection officials fired a laser on loan from the Pentagon.

The sudden closure of El Paso's airspace Wednesday came sometime after U.S.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued unexplained notices late Tuesday closing airspace over El Paso and a large patch of southern New Mexico west of Santa Teresa for 10 days. El Paso

Perspective: What could the "special security reasons' be behind the unprecedented 10-day closure of El Paso airport.

The FAA reopened the airspace around El Paso International Airport after flights were grounded for a few hours on Tuesday.

The testing, which was taking place near Fort Bliss, was of high-energy lasers that are designed to protect against drones from drug cartels that could cross over the U.S. border, three of the sources say.

Veronica Escobar shared information her office had gathered about the sudden 10-day flight restrictions over El Paso.