When Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was first selected to lead the department, he got praise for his work helping to build infrastructure during his time in Congress, but it turns out he has much more hands-on experience with the world of commercial transportation.
"Secretary Duffy held a CDL for approximately 30 years," a DOT spokesperson told Overdrive.
Overdrive wasn't able to get any further details on Duffy's CDL or any truck driving work he did or didn't do, but Duffy, now 53, must have gotten his CDL when he was pretty young.
His DOT biography says Duffy "comes from a long line of lumberjacks, who helped build his beloved state of Wisconsin, and was a world-champion lumberjack athlete." Indeed Duffy holds multiple titles in speed climbing lumber poles and log rolling, where two competitors stand on either side of a floating log and see who can stay on top the longest.
Maybe Duffy hauled logs in his native Hayward, Wisconsin.
Might he name a fellow CDL holder to helm the most important agency within the department?
[Related: Time to put an owner-operator behind the wheel of FMCSA?]
Time will tell on the FMCSA administrator front. Duffy, who has been in office for less than two months, hasn't yet fully had time to implement his trucking agenda. On the same day the Senate confirmed him, one of the deadliest plane crashes in years happened in Washington, D.C.
The DOT under Duffy has made some progress towards setting a trucking agenda, though, appointing Jesse Elison, former counsel at the Bennet Family of Companies and the new Chief Legal Counsel at Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and Adrienne Camire, former Chief Counsel at the Federal Highway Administration, who will now serve as the Senior Advisor to the Administrator at FMCSA.
[Related: Trump admin's legal team at DOT takes shape]
Last week, Duffy swore in a new batch of FMCSA border inspectors, who "are stationed along the US/Mexico border ensuring compliance with FMCSA mandates related to international truck and bus safety," according to FMCSA.
Duffy's DOT has also operated against a backdrop of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency efforts.
DOT employees, including those at the FMCSA, recently received a "pulse check" email from Musk's DOGE office asking them to relay five things they'd done in the last week.
Overall, a DOT spokesperson said it stood ready to increase efficiency in line with DOGE's goals.
[Related: Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE want your help finding fraud at DOT]
"USDOT and FMCSA are committed to serving the American people at the highest and most efficient standard – including the execution of FMCSA’s mission to reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities involving large trucks and buses on the nation’s roadways," the spokesperson said.
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