White House removes J. Todd Inman from NTSB, no reason given

J. Todd Inman, a Republican member of the National Transportation Safety Board and a former chief of staff to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, said he received notice Friday from the White House personnel office that his position on the board was "terminated effective immediately." He said he had not yet received a reason for his firing, two years into his term.

Inman has served on the NTSB since April 2024 and was a public face of high-profile investigations. He was the on-scene board member at the American Eagle flight 5342 crash in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in January 2025, an incident that killed 67 people, and at the November crash of a UPS cargo plane on takeoff from the Louisville, Kentucky, airport that killed 15 people. Inman said that having been the board member on scene "for two of the largest aviation incidents in the past two decades, working with all of the impacted families and first responders has made me appreciate how the original mission of the NTSB is more crucial now than ever before."

The White House had no immediate response to requests for comment. The NTSB is statutorily a five-member board; its website showed three members at the time of reporting. The abrupt removal of Inman follows earlier dismissals of independent agency officials that have prompted litigation and scrutiny.

The administration fired then-NTSB vice chair Alvin Brown in May; Brown has filed suit challenging his removal. Robert Primus, who served on the Surface Transportation Board, was also removed last year and has challenged his firing in court. Advocacy group Democracy Forward has filed discrimination claims on behalf of Brown and Primus. When Brown and Primus were removed, the White House said performance, not bias, drove the decisions and that the president was within his legal rights to dismiss them.

Senator Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, has criticized the removals and the handling of replacements. In a December 6, 2025, press release she said, "As my Democratic colleagues and I have made clear, this Committee should not be rewarding President Trump’s illegal removal of NTSB Vice Chair Alvin Brown by rushing to confirm his replacement." She added that Republicans were "disregarding the significant uncertainty this may create, the dangerous precedent this would set, and the damage this may cause by enabling the White House’s power grab," and urged delay of any confirmation vote while litigation proceeds.

Inman praised NTSB staff and investigators as "world class" and reflected that "Witnessing these horrible accidents have undoubtedly taken a toll on me and my family and has changed my perspective in a positive way on how we regulate safety for the traveling public." He concluded with a plea for the agency's independence: "My only hope is that the NTSB leadership and those who control it stay true to its roots and culture as the preeminent safety organization unimpeded by political or personal agendas."

The removal raises immediate operational questions for the board, which relies on bipartisan composition and perceived independence to lead safety investigations and set recommendations affecting airlines, state regulators, and first responders. With legal challenges to past removals pending and the NTSB operating below its full complement, congressional oversight and court rulings are likely to shape whether these personnel moves will become a broader precedent for executive control of independent safety agencies.