Trump administration abruptly removes vice chair of the NTSB

The Trump administration Tuesday abruptly removed Alvin Brown from his role as vice chair of the National Transportation Safety Board.

Three sources with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly confirmed that Brown, the only Black member on the five-person board, had been removed. However, the reason for his dismissal is unclear. Brown did not respond to requests for comment. The NTSB declined to comment and referred all calls to the White House, which confirmed Brown’s dismissal but did not give a reason.

Sources said Brown’s access to NTSB’s offices was blocked Tuesday morning but he was later escorted into the building. His biography had been removed from the agency’s website Tuesday.

The decision to remove Brown took some safety experts by surprise.

“This is the first time in modern history that the White House has removed a board member,” said Jeff Guzzetti, an aviation safety consultant and former Federal Aviation Administration and NTSB investigator.

News of Brown’s removal was first reported by Reuters.

Brown, a Biden appointee and former mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, was just over a year into his five-year term on the board of the independent agency charged with investigating transportation accidents. He was sworn in as a member of the board in March 2024 and was elevated to vice chair in December.

Aviation safety has been a top priority for the Trump administration, which has moved aggressively to address a decades-long shortage of air traffic controllers and has pledged billions to update the technology the FAA uses to manage the national airspace system.

The NTSB plays a key role in the effort to improve transportation safety, investigating the causes of accidents and issuing recommendations to prevent future ones. It is involved in high-profile investigations, including of the Jan. 29 collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed 67 people and last year’s midair blowout aboard a Boeing 737 Max jet.

Brown was previously a senior adviser for community infrastructure opportunities at the Transportation Department and was Jacksonville mayor from 2011 to 2015. He also served in the Clinton administration and was a senior adviser to former commerce secretary Ron Brown.

Alvin Brown earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration from Jacksonville University and a master’s degree from the Duke University Divinity School.