Clyde J. Hart, Jr., the administrator of the Maritime Administration, is President Clinton’s choice as chief of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, according to sources.
Hart knows trucking from a legislative and regulatory perspective, having served as the senior Democratic lawyer for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation between 1994 and 1998. Before that, he spent 13 years at the Interstate Commerce Commission as a trial attorney and senior counsel.

Upon confirmation, Hart will be the first administrator of the new safety agency. Under the law that created the agency last January, the administrator is nominated by the president, with the consent of the Senate.
The purpose of this structure is to give truck safety a higher profile within the Department of Transportation by placing the agency on the same level as the administrations that handle railroads, airlines and maritime.
Right now the agency is being run by Acting Assistant Administrator Julie Anna Cirillo.
Hart has a master’s degree in public policy from George Washington University, a law degree from the Catholic University of America School of Law, and a bachelor of science degree with honors from Saint Peter’s College. He is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.