8) Failure to collect or analyze a sufficiently detailed database from over six hundred witnesses.

FACT: The NTSB submitted complete authority over eyewitness interviews to the FBI during the first year and a half after the crash, in apparent violation of federal regulations.[8] Instead of interviewing the witnesses directly, they analyzed the sometimes illegible FBI witness summaries.

FACT: NTSB Board Member George W. Black described the NTSB Witness Group Study Report as a "literature review."[30]

FACT: The NTSB Witness Group Study Report contained little or no reference to first-hand sources.

FACT: The NTSB never provided a public forum nor set aside time at either of its two public hearings on the crash for firsthand eyewitness testimony.

ASSESSMENT: Many of the details not included in the FBI witness summaries have been obtained by independent organizations from interviews and an independent public hearing (see Attachment IV). Valuable information from hundreds of witnesses can still be obtained today. The NTSB has the ability and responsibility to interview these witnesses. The NTSB is urged to comply with Title 49 of the US code by carrying out this task immediately.