about the united states. on 9/11 air-traffic controllers and guided every one of them to a safe landing in a little over an hour, try that. it s the kind of job or even a small mistake can lead instantly to the deaths of hundreds of people. not surprisingly, the hiring standardss for air traffic controllers were long among the most selective of all federal jobs. applicants typically needed to complete military service or pass the collegiate training initiativetr program, they sat r a specially designed exam to test for math ability and complex problem-solving. only those with the highest scores made the cut. the system was designed to choose the best and for decades it worked. then during the obama administration activist bureaucrats decided the pool of air traffic controllers wasn t diverse enough. they never explained why diversity ought to matter in air-traffic control or why it wasn t more important than traditional goals like confidence in public safety.