at least 2 people at that table
need to be terminated with prejudice. ( from their jobs, of course ).
O'leary out and out lied. The FAA system was re-written at least in 1990. I hired one of the people into NASA from the FAA that did the re-write. It was not in COBOL. And I am certain that new technologies have been installed in the last 30 years that required further updates.
This is NOT something that needs to be done overnight... in fact you don't WANT it to be done quickly. You want it to be changed slowly over time. The famous engineering explanation is that you are re configuring and updating the plane while it is flying. This time almost literally.
The FAA can't take time off for an upgrade and reboot. There isn't the money to build a completely new system complete with a new staff ( duplicate ) to take the hand off from the retiring system. There are ALWAYS planes in the air. Planes taking off and landing. And there is only ONE FAA control system. So you must carefully upgrade things while the system is operating. Very carefully.
And the other people at the table need to question the premise... The premise is that the government is "bloated" and there is ALWAYS fat to be cut... I would have countered at that table... "OK, there are 7 of us sitting here... this table is bloated by your definition... one of you needs to be fired right now... which one of you is redundant?" Stop accepting the Reagan talking point. We need MORE government workers... skilled. to cure cancer ( and save billions in cancer treatments )... we need billions more to build a "second FAA" so we can adequately test ( in real time ) a new version of ATC while the one that keeps the planes in the air right now continues to work well. Reject the premise that the government should be run like a business, the government is NOT a business. It is there to do the things that a business would never do ( to much risk ) or to do things for the common good of everyone ( like the EPA, the DOJ, the DOE - both of them, and the DOD ).