How often does an entity, when investigating itself, accurately and truthfully identify the issues the entity is facing? I have immense respect for the FAA and if any regulator could do it I would think the FAA would conduct a more honest self-investigation than most US regulators. But it’s still a pretty dubious proposition that people in Congress responsible for the agency’s oversight would defer to the judgment of the FAA in determining the agency’s accountability.

It’s ironically not unlike the regulatory landscape that led to the Boeing situation in the first place - the entity charged with oversight was much too deferential to those it was supposed to be overseeing.