Warren Presses Top Military Official on Trump Admin Failures Evacuating Americans from Middle East
“The American people have a right to know whether the Trump administration used all the tools at its disposal to evacuate Americans out of the Middle East after President Trump launched an illegal and unconstitutional war”
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, pressed General Randall Reed, Commander of the U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM), on the Trump administration’s failures in evacuating Americans from the Middle East at the start of President Trump’s illegal war in Iran.
On February 28, the Trump administration launched an attack on Iran. Several days later the State Department issued an alert for U.S. citizens to “DEPART NOW” from over a dozen countries in the Middle East “due to serious safety risks.” By the time the Department issued the evacuation order, much of the region’s airspace was already fully or partially closed, significantly limiting options for U.S. citizens to evacuate.
President Trump admitted on March 3 that the administration had no evacuation plans for Americans abroad, the Trump administration also told American citizens not to rely on the government for evacuation assistance. One American reported that it took the State Department over a week to contact her after enrolling in its Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP), which is designed to provide Americans abroad information during an emergency. In response, Senator Warren led the Massachusetts delegation in a letter on March 5 to the State Department demanding answers on the Trump administration’s “complete failure” to evacuate Massachusetts residents and other Americans from the Middle East.
TRANSCOM has stepped up before to help evacuate Americans from war zones. In 2006, TRANSCOM helped evacuate nearly 15,000 Americans in less than a month after a request for support from the State Department. On March 5 and March 11, TRANSCOM reported to Senator Warren’s office that the State Department had not yet requested any support in evacuating American civilians desperate to leave the region.
But just a day later, in a March 12 hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Commander Reed testified that the State Department had requested TRANSCOM’s help since late February and that the combatant command had provided some assistance to airlift out hundreds of Americans.
“[This is] a significant discrepancy between what my office was told prior to the hearing and the information you provided in the hearing. And more than a month after that hearing, my office has yet to receive any information from your command to support your testimony,” said Senator Warren.
“The American people have a right to know whether the Trump administration used all the tools at its disposal to evacuate Americans out of the Middle East after President Trump launched an illegal and unconstitutional war that put the lives of Americans across the region in danger,” she concluded.
Senator Warren asked General Reed to provide answers by May 5, 2026.
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