An FAA Mechanical Engineer Used His Government Computer to Research How to Kill the President

A Federal Aviation Administration mechanical engineer from Nashua, New Hampshire, has been arrested and charged with threatening to kill President Donald Trump after using his government-issued work computer to conduct a series of alarming internet searches, then compounding his situation dramatically by asking the FAA's own IT department to delete his search history. This request triggered the investigation that led directly to his arrest. The case, which became public on May 5, 2026, adds a deeply unsettling dimension to an already turbulent period for the FAA, an agency simultaneously managing an air traffic control modernisation crisis, a series of high-profile aviation safety incidents, and now an internal criminal allegation of the most serious kind.

The Arrest and the Charge

A Federal Aviation Administration employee was arrested Monday after he allegedly threatened to harm the president and used a work computer to research his plans, prosecutors said. Dean DelleChiaie, 35, of Nashua, New Hampshire, was slated to appear in federal court Tuesday on charges of communicating an interstate threat. Prosecutors allege DelleChiaie used his government computer to search the internet for how to get a gun into a federal facility. 

The suspect allegedly also made other incriminating searches on the device, including previous assassination attempts against Trump, the percentage of the population that wants the president dead and the phrase, "I am going to kill Donald John Trump," according to the criminal complaint. 

DelleChiaie also searched for the locations of the homes of Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the affidavit said. 

How the FAA's Own IT Team Exposed Him

The sequence of events that led to DelleChiaie's arrest is as extraordinary as the allegations themselves. Rather than concealing his activity, his attempt to erase it became the mechanism of his exposure.

The FAA's Information Technology department notified the Secret Service about those "concerning searches" after DelleChiaie took his FAA computer to the department and requested to delete his search history off the device," Secret Service Special Agent Nathanael Gamble wrote in the affidavit. 

On Feb. 3, a Secret Service agent and a Nashua Police officer visited DelleChiaie's apartment, where "he admitted to conducting the searches ... and was remorseful," the affidavit said. 

"DelleChiaie stated that he realized he should not search these subjects and that it was crazy for him to do this on his work computer," Gamble wrote. 

At that February 3 interview, investigators found further disturbing material. During the interview, the Secret Service agent saw several items written on a whiteboard attached to DelleChiaie's, including: "Calm down more;" "1-month no arrest by police;" "Go DC to office if they do not action;" “Say arrest me 'I am going to murder Donald John Trump – per defense of oath.'”

Despite being visited by federal agents and admitting remorse, DelleChiaie was not immediately arrested. What followed in the weeks after the February interview elevated the case from an alarming series of searches to a direct, explicit, and legally actionable criminal threat.

The Email to the White House

The charge of communicating an interstate threat is grounded not merely in the search history but in a direct communication sent to the White House. The email had a subject, "Contact the President," and said, "I, Dean DelleChiaie, am going to neutralize/kill you, Donald John Trump, because you decided to kill kids, and say that it was War, when in reality, it is terrorism. God knows your actions and where you belong," according to the complaint.

The email's reference to the Iran war as motivation connects the threat directly to the geopolitical events that have dominated 2026. DelleChiaie's opposition to the US-Israel military campaign against Iran, which began on February 28, appears to have been the trigger that pushed him from conducting internet searches to direct communication with the White House.

He told authorities he was upset with the administration because of the election, presidential pardons and the Epstein files. 

The Suspect's Personal Circumstances

The affidavit filed in federal court contains details about DelleChiaie's personal state that provide context without in any way diminishing the severity of the allegations.

"DelleChiaie mentioned that he was depressed and sees a therapist and is engaged in Ketamine therapy to try to get better," Gamble wrote. "DelleChiaie admitted that he drinks to 'black out' and that he used to drink every day. DelleChiaie said that he used cannabis daily and occasionally uses mushrooms." 

He told the agent and police officer he had an interest in assassinations, "but he did conduct a search about assassinations because it was part of the cycle that was going on in his mind," the affidavit said. 

He admitted to conducting those searches and owning three firearms, according to authorities. 

The Role and the Penalty

DelleChiaie works in mechanical engineering in the FAA, according to the online site Open Payrolls, which tracks pay for federal employees. His role within a federal agency responsible for the safety of the United States' national airspace, and at a moment when that agency is itself under intense public, congressional, and White House scrutiny, gives the arrest significance that extends beyond the criminal charge itself. 

If convicted, DelleChiaie faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. 

A Pattern of Threat Cases Around the President

His arrest comes on the heels of the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey on a charge of threatening to kill Trump, and the arrest of Cole Tomas Allen for allegedly trying to assassinate the president at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. 

The three cases, a former FBI Director, a would-be assassin at a press dinner, and now a sitting FAA employee, represent a convergence of threat activity around the current administration that has placed the United States Secret Service and federal law enforcement on a heightened state of alert. That one of those cases originated inside the federal government itself, at an agency currently at the centre of major aviation safety policy, will add a specific and uncomfortable dimension to how congressional oversight of the FAA is likely to proceed in the weeks ahead.

The FAA, when contacted for comment on DelleChiaie's employment status, referred all questions to prosecutors. No attorney information for the suspect was immediately available following his Tuesday court appearance.