You can't say an opinion is false - it's an opinion.
The fact is though, that the Biographical Questionaire affected hiring. Did it make a noticeable difference though? Who knows. We just know for certain that people who studied for this job didn't get in.
I agree that op thought: > [that] there's [no] debate that ATC staffing is a major issue right now, and the FAA really did blow up its hiring pipeline to further DEI goals
Grandparent only said that there is clearly debate over this.
To say that no-one can disagree with op, or point out an opposing point of view, because is their opinion, is not furthering discussion.
There was absolutely corruption in the application/hiring process. That corruption was built on top of a (flawed, but well intentioned?) DEI program. But, as you note, did it materially impact the overall quality of the hiring pipeline? Maybe, but I don't know that we know for sure.
Fascinating. It sounds like the miscommunication happens because there is two different ways "I don't think there's any debate that X" is used.
One is used to communicate a fact. The fact that X is so uncontroversial that nobody debates it.
The other one seems to be using "I don't think there's any debate" as a kind of emphasis. It's a bit like double underscoring X and writing three exclamation points around it. It doesn't change that you are still just saying X but with more élan.
And if different people use it differently then of course they won't understand each other. One would be confused that their strongly held opinion has been declared false without the conversation partner even addressing X. The other would be confused how something so easily disproven (by the presence of a debate) can be maintained.
But of course I can be wrong.