Even within tight organizations leaks will eventually occur if there is anything to be leaked. In the types of accident investigations being discussed here, there are just too many eyes and experts (including internet boards) to hide anything from.
All quite true, of course, but you are missing the point - the issue isnt a 'coercive conspiracy ala something from 'Stalinist Russia', but rather a more subtle self inclusive conspiracy, where its participants consciously and more often [b]Subconsciously[/b, rewire their mental pathways to conform
Our job is to recognize our propensities and mitigate them. Example: The FAA and the NTSB. Both have overlapping parameters it would seem in regards to air travel, but in the case of a crash, the NTSB has sole jurisdiction. Why not a bigger role for the FAA? After all, they oversee those same airlines on a daily basis? We've already seen with Southwest et. al, that sometimes the overseer gets to 'chummy' with his charge- an FAA investigation of a crash could logically point to the FAA at being at fault, lax oversight etc. With many serious incidents being a fortuitously connected chain of 'Unfortunate Events', it's easy to point to one link of the chain as being THE link and THE cause - then ignore the rest. You can 'cover up' a murder by shining a flashlight on the murder weapon and not at the crime scene itself.
WIKI ENTRY on Concorde Crash..These investigators were frustrated by the lack of cooperation from French authorities, including an unwillingness to share data and the immediate resurfacing of the Concorde's takeoff runway after the crash. They alleged that the BEA was determined to place the sole blame of the accident on the titanium strip to show that the Concorde itself was not at fault. The piece of metal from the DC-10 was found 7 meters forward, and 37 meters to the right of where the Concorde's tyre blew.*
*Interestingly, that indicates to me that the tire DID hit the titanium strip, as its new position seems very consistent with being struck by a moving object. The other issues remain however. As 411A pointed out: The flight engineers response and also the numerous safety violations that day: Incomplete wheel structure maintenance, near runway incursion with De Gaul's flight, Plane OVERWEIGHT for conditions. Far from being an unpredictable 'act of God', the accident can be shown to be a highly predictable failure of MAN - numerous tire incidents, numerous resulting fuel tank penetrations - uneventful does not mean safe, and the numbers eventually run out. That even now, France is going forward with criminal prosecutions is another travesty. Mock all as you will, the bizarre machinations of third world and Arab/Muslim legal process and priorities, you will find that the same lovable quirks exist in our own world, albeit with a 'superior' accent!