Editing TWA Flight 800 (section)

===Witness interviews===
[[File:Twa 800 witness 319.PNG|right|thumb|An FBI witness statement summary (with personal information redacted)<ref name="Witness Appendix E"/>{{rp|41}}]]
Although considerable discrepancies existed among the many witness accounts, most had seen a "streak of light," described by 38 of 258 witnesses as ascending,<ref name="Final Report"/>{{rp|232}} moving to a point where a large fireball appeared. Several witnesses reported that the fireball divided into two parts as it descended toward the water.<ref name="Final Report"/>{{rp|3}} Intense public interest arose regarding the witness reports, as did much speculation that the reported streak of light was a missile that had struck TWA 800, causing the airplane to explode.<ref name="Final Report"/>{{rp|262}} These witness accounts were a major reason for the initiation and duration of the FBI's criminal investigation.<ref name="Witness Report">{{cite journal |title=Witness Group Chairman's Factual Report |url=https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40058352&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=Witnesses%204%20-%20Group%20Chairman%20Factual%20Report-Master.PDF |journal=Docket No. ?, Exhibit 4-A |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board |access-date=January 12, 2010 |archive-date=July 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723174522/https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40058352&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=Witnesses%204%20-%20Group%20Chairman%20Factual%20Report-Master.PDF |url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|5}}

Approximately 80 FBI agents conducted interviews with potential witnesses daily.<ref name="Witness Report"/>{{rp|7}} No verbatim records of the witness interviews were produced; instead, the agents who conducted the interviews wrote summaries that they then submitted.<ref name="Witness Report"/>{{rp|5}} Witnesses were not asked to review or correct the summaries.<ref name="Witness Report"/>{{rp|5}} Included in some of the witness summaries were drawings or diagrams of what the witnesses had observed.<ref name="Witness Appendix E">{{cite journal |title=Documents Pertaining to Witnesses 300-399 |url=https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40058360&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=Witnesses%204%20-%20Group%20Chairman%20Factual%20Report%20-%20Appendix%20E%20-%20Documents%20pertaining%20to%20Witnesses%20300-399-Master.PDF |journal=Docket No. SA-516, Appendix E |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board |access-date=March 4, 2010 |archive-date=July 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723174353/https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40058360&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=Witnesses%204%20-%20Group%20Chairman%20Factual%20Report%20-%20Appendix%20E%20-%20Documents%20pertaining%20to%20Witnesses%20300-399-Master.PDF |url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|165}}<ref name="Witness Appendix B">{{cite journal |author= |title=Documents Pertaining to Witnesses 1-99 |url=https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40058357&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=Witnesses%204%20-%20Group%20Chairman%20Factual%20Report%20-%20Appendix%20B%20-%20Documents%20pertaining%20to%20Witnesses%201-99%20%20-Master.PDF |journal=Docket No. SA-516, Appendix B |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board |access-date=March 4, 2010 |archive-date=July 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723175457/https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket/Document/docBLOB?ID=40058357&FileExtension=.PDF&FileName=Witnesses%204%20-%20Group%20Chairman%20Factual%20Report%20-%20Appendix%20B%20-%20Documents%20pertaining%20to%20Witnesses%201-99%20%20-Master.PDF |url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|184}}

Within days of the crash, the NTSB announced its intent to form its own witness group and to interview witnesses to the crash.<ref name="Witness Report"/>{{rp|6}} After the FBI raised concerns about nongovernmental parties in the NTSB's investigation having access to this information and possible prosecutorial difficulties resulting from multiple interviews of the same witnesses,<ref name="Witness Report"/>{{rp|6}} the NTSB deferred and did not interview witnesses. A safety board investigator later reviewed FBI interview notes and briefed other board investigators on their contents. In November 1996, the FBI agreed to allow the NTSB access to summaries of witness accounts in which personally identifying information had been redacted and to conduct a limited number of witness interviews. In April 1998, the FBI provided the NTSB with the identities of the witnesses, but because of the time that had elapsed, a decision was made to rely on the original FBI documents rather than on reinterviewed witnesses.<ref name="Final Report"/>{{rp|229}}