Todd Inman went from the face of a national tragedy to a personnel casualty, and the White House is not saying what changed.
What You Should Know
NTSB board member Todd Inman says the White House fired him through the Presidential Personnel Office, and he says he has not been told the reason. Inman was confirmed in March 2024 and departed about two years into a typical five-year term.
Inman is not a random bureaucrat. According to CBS News, he served as the NTSB’s initial on-scene spokesperson after a deadly midair collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in January 2026, a case that put the agency’s credibility and its independence on prime-time display.
Fired Mid-Spotlight, and the White House Holds the Switch
Inman told CBS News he was fired by the White House Presidential Personnel Office on behalf of President Trump shortly after the NTSB added its fifth board member. His summary of the process was blunt: “To date, I have not received any reason for this termination,” he said.
CBS News reported it sought comment from the Trump administration, and that the NTSB referred inquiries back to the White House. That leaves a familiar Washington shape: a high-visibility removal, an agency pointing up the chain, and the chain declining to explain itself.
The NTSB is designed to be influential without being a regulator, which is part of its power. According to the NTSB’s own description of its role, the agency investigates transportation accidents, determines probable cause, and issues safety recommendations that can shape how industry and regulators respond after a disaster.
A Second Biden-Appointee Ousted, and a Board Rebuilt
Inman was appointed by President Biden and confirmed by the Senate in March 2024, CBS News reported. He also served as a Department of Transportation official during Trump’s first term, a resume detail that complicates any neat partisan storyline. If this was simply about purging the other team, Inman was not exactly a stranger to Trump-world.
But Inman’s departure is not isolated. CBS News reported that in May 2025, the Trump administration fired another Biden-appointed NTSB member, former vice chairman Alvin Brown. The board is only five seats, so removing members is not a subtle reshuffle. It changes internal votes, public messaging, and who gets to stand at the microphone the next time a plane goes down.
The Case That Made Him a Public Figure Inside a Quiet Agency
The crash Inman responded to was not an inside-baseball aviation story. CBS News reported that 67 people were killed in the collision between a regional American Airlines flight and a Black Hawk helicopter. Inman became emotional describing what he saw at the debris field, and the clip turned an obscure safety role into a human, televised one.
Now the open question is not just why Inman was fired, but what the White House wants the NTSB to look like during the next high-stakes investigation. Watch for whether the administration offers a rationale, and whether families and industry groups push for assurances that safety findings will stay insulated from politics.
