page_title: National Transportation Safety Board
section_title: Organization
hierarchical_section_title: National Transportation Safety Board / Organization
caption_attribution_description: English: Robert L. Sumwalt official photo as a NTSB board member
context_page_description: The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine accidents, pipeline incidents, and railroad accidents. When requested, the NTSB will assist the military and foreign governments with accident investigation. The NTSB is also in charge of investigating cases of hazardous materials releases that occur during transportation. The agency is based in Washington, D.C. It has four regional offices located in Anchorage, Alaska; Denver, Colorado; Ashburn, Virginia; and Seattle, Washington. The agency also operates a national training center at its Ashburn facility.
context_section_description: Formally, the "National Transportation Safety Board" refers to a five-manager investigative board whose five members are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate for five-year terms.  No more than three of the five members may be from the same political party.  One of the five board members is nominated as the Chairman by the President and then approved by the Senate for a fixed 2-year term; another is designated as vice-chairman and becomes acting chairman when there is no formal chairman.  This board is authorized by Congress under Chapter 11, Title 49 of the United States Code to investigate civil aviation, highway, marine, pipeline, and railroad accidents and incidents.  This five-member board is authorized to establish and manage separate sub-offices for highway, marine, aviation, railroad, pipeline, and hazardous materials investigations.  Collectively, "National Transportation Safety Board", the "Safety Board" or "NTSB" is used to refer to the entire investigative agency established and managed by this five-member board.  As of 2017, Robert Sumwalt is chairman of the NTSB.
  Since its creation, the NTSB's primary mission has been "to determine the probable cause of transportation accidents and incidents and to formulate safety recommendations to improve transportation safety (in the USA)".  Based on the results of investigations within its jurisdiction, the NTSB issues formal safety recommendations to agencies and institutions with the power to implement those recommendations.  The NTSB considers safety recommendations to be its primary tool for preventing future civil transportation accidents.  However, the NTSB does not have the authority to enforce its safety recommendations.
caption: Robert Sumwalt became chair in August 2017
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