National Transportation Safety Board: Additional Actions Needed to Improve Management and Operations
Fast Facts
The National Transportation Safety Board investigates and reports on the probable causes of transportation accidents and issues recommendations to improve safety.
NTSB reports having about the same number of employees as it had 20 years ago. But the transportation sector has experienced tremendous growth and technological advancement in that time. While NTSB has taken steps to improve its management and operations, it needs to do more to make the best use of its resources.
We recommended that NTSB improve planning to meet agency goals; use more data to guide resource decisions; and better assess its workforce needs.
Highlights
What GAO Found
The National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) most recent strategic plan, annual performance plan, and annual performance report fully met 14 of the 25 statutory content requirements that GAO analyzed specified in federal laws on agency performance planning. For example, NTSB's strategic plan described the agency's mission and identified external factors that could affect achievement of the agency's goals. Other requirements that NTSB did not satisfy are fundamental tools in federal performance management. For example, within its strategic plan, NTSB established strategic goals targeting organizational efficiency, process improvements, and preparedness for emerging technologies. However, none of these strategic goals directly link to NTSB's mission of improving transportation safety, as required. Without mission-focused strategic goals, it will be difficult for NTSB to determine how the agency's actions connect to the broader outcomes it hopes to achieve. By fully meeting this and all other statutory content requirements for performance planning documents, NTSB can better ensure accountability to Congress and the public.
Summary of Extent to Which the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Met 25 Statutory Content Requirements for Its Performance Planning Documents
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Performance planning document |
Summary of extent to which NTSB met content requirements |
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Strategic plan |
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Annual performance plan |
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Annual performance report |
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Legend: Each dot represents one statutory requirement that GAO assessed. ● = Met; ◐ = Partially met; ○ = Not met
Source: GAO analysis of NTSB information. | GAO-23-105853
NTSB has improved its use of investigation data to inform decisions, but it has made limited progress in doing so for labor cost data (i.e., data on staff time spent on individual investigations and other activities). NTSB has previously taken steps to improve the usability of its labor cost data but, despite years of effort, continues to be unable to use these data for resource allocation and other decision-making. NTSB officials said that they recently improved NTSB's labor cost data system, and that they expect to receive approval to fully implement the updated system later this year. Until then, NTSB is limited in its ability to use labor cost data to make more informed decisions, in alignment with federal guidance that directs agencies to leverage data in carrying out their missions.
NTSB has recently taken steps to determine whether its workforce has the skills needed to carry out the agency's mission. However, these efforts do not provide comprehensive information on the skills staff need, how many staff have those skills, and where skill gaps exist. In 2022, NTSB issued a survey and held listening sessions with staff to identify training needs, but these efforts did not include all mission-critical staff, as leading practices recommend, nor did they identify the range of skills needed. Moreover, NTSB officials indicated that they do not have a consolidated inventory of current staff skills. As a result of these shortcomings, NTSB is hampered in its ability to identify skill gaps across the agency, including in all mission-critical occupations, and to implement strategies to address its most pressing needs.
Why GAO Did This Study
NTSB plays a vital role in advancing transportation safety by investigating and reporting on the probable cause of accidents and issuing safety recommendations. Despite growth and technological advancement in the transportation sector, NTSB's staffing levels have remained about the same for the past 20 years, according to NTSB. Congress has expressed concerns about the timeliness of NTSB's accident investigation reports, the quality of its accident investigation data, and whether the agency has sufficient staff to conduct its work.
GAO was asked to review NTSB's management and operations. This report evaluates, among other things, NTSB's (1) performance planning efforts; (2) efforts to improve its use of data in decision-making; and (3) recent workforce planning activities to identify skill gaps in its workforce.
GAO analyzed NTSB reports, plans, procedures, and other documents related to the agency's management and operations; compared NTSB's efforts with relevant laws and guidance; reviewed NTSB investigation and contracting data; and interviewed agency officials.
Recommendations
GAO is making six recommendations, including that NTSB ensure its future performance planning documents meet all statutory requirements; finalize a system that enables the agency to more effectively analyze and use labor cost data; and conduct a skill gap assessment. NTSB did not take a position on the recommendations but identified actions to address them.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| National Transportation Safety Board | The Chair of the Board should ensure the agency's future strategic plans include content that fully meets all statutory requirements. (Recommendation 1) |
In June 2025, NTSB informed us of actions it planned to take to improve its future strategic plans. For example, NTSB planned to refine its long-term strategic goals to be more mission-focused and outcome-oriented to better assess how the agency's work improves transportation safety. Taking actions such as these will allow NTSB to channel its efforts and resources in a manner to effectively and efficiently carry out its mission, report on its progress, and ensure accountability to the public for results and cost-effectiveness. We will continue to monitor NTSB's efforts to finalize these planned improvements.
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| National Transportation Safety Board | The Chair of the Board should ensure the agency's future annual performance plans include content that fully meets all statutory requirements. (Recommendation 2) |
In March 2026, NTSB informed us of actions it had taken to improve its future annual performance plans. For example, NTSB reported that it is developing a crosswalk that will map each program activity in the budget to relevant performance goals. Taking actions such as these will allow NTSB to channel its efforts and resources in a manner to effectively and efficiently carry out its mission, report on its progress, and ensure accountability to the public for results and cost-effectiveness. We will continue to monitor NTSB's efforts to finalize these actions.
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| National Transportation Safety Board | The Chair of the Board should ensure the agency's future annual performance reports include content that fully meets all statutory requirements. (Recommendation 3) |
In June 2025, NTSB informed us of actions it planned to take to improve its future annual performance reports, including identifying best practices to develop a program evaluation framework. Taking actions such as these will allow NTSB to channel its efforts and resources in a manner to effectively and efficiently carry out its mission, report on its progress, and ensure accountability to the public for results and cost-effectiveness. We will continue to monitor NTSB's efforts to finalize its planned improvements to its performance reporting.
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| National Transportation Safety Board | The Chair of the Board should finalize implementation of a system that enables the agency to more effectively analyze labor cost data to inform decision-making. (Recommendation 4) |
In March 2026, we received documentation from NTSB on its latest actions related to its data analytics platform. We are in the process of assessing this information to determine if it is fully responsive to our recommendation.
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| National Transportation Safety Board | The Chair of the Board should conduct assessments to determine the skills its mission-critical occupations need and the extent to which staff have those skills. (Recommendation 5) |
In June 2025, NTSB informed us that it had entered into an interagency agreement with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to provide strategic workforce planning services. In coordination with OPM, NTSB will conduct an analysis of its workforce to determine its ability to meet current or future mission demands. According to NTSB, the results of this analysis will be used to identify optimum staffing levels for short- and long-term staffing plans, including prioritizing positions for hiring. Taking actions such as these will allow NTSB to ensure that its training and hiring efforts target the most pressing needs, and that employees in mission-critical occupations have the skills needed to carry out the agency's mission. We will continue to monitor NTSB's efforts to complete the planned skills assessment.
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| National Transportation Safety Board | The Chair of the Board should establish security awareness and training procedures to facilitate the implementation of NTSB's security awareness and training policy and the associated controls. (Recommendation 6) |
In August 2024, NTSB provided GAO with documents demonstrating that it had established security awareness and training procedures. Specifically, NTSB created documents that explain NTSB's training requirements and list instructions on how users are to access and complete this training. NTSB also shared the instructions on how staff validate if users have taken the initial security training. By taking these steps to establish security awareness and training procedures, NTSB is better able to ensure that its information systems and data are being safeguarded against potential security risks.
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