Ted Cruz says there was ‘no compelling national security reason’ for the advanced surveillance technology to be switched off

Technology that would have allowed air traffic controllers to better track the movement of an Army helicopter was turned off at the time of the crash, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in an interview Thursday.

The U.S. Army helicopter that collided with an passenger jet near Washington, D.C., had an advanced surveillance system turned off.

Flight data posted online appears to show another Army helicopter flying higher than the maximum altitude allowed around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., before last week’s fatal collision between a Black Hawk helicopter and a passenger plane.