Field officials of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will visit most of the nation’s hazardous materials carriers in the coming months. Their mission: to raise hazmat carriers’ consciousness of the terrorist threat.

The visits are the top priority of the safety agency’s field staff, said spokesman David Longo. Out of some 80,000 hazmat carriers, the agency is at this point targeting some 52,000 based on the extremely hazardous nature of their cargo, Longo said.
The priority is on companies that transport bulk explosives, anhydrous ammonia, petroleum products and poisonous gases, he said.
He said the move is not in response to any specific threats or terrorist scenarios. The Department of Transportation’s Office of Security and Intelligence has warned, however, that trucking companies should be alert to signs of trouble.
“Any suspicious activity, unusual purchases, suspicious behavior by employees or customers, etc., should be reported to the local FBI field office,” the security office said in a joint announcement with the FBI.
In its visits to the carriers, agency staff will discuss personnel security, package controls, route security and technical methods of protecting cargo and personnel.
Longo said the agency is aiming to have each staffer make two visits a day. With 500 people in the field, that will add up to two and a half months – unless the agency cuts back on the number of visits, which is possible, he said.
In another development, the agency is working with the FBI to review all the Commercial Driver’s Licenses in the country that have hazmat endorsements. Federal investigators are screening licensed hazmat drivers using the government’s CDL database, in response to recent information that suspected terrorists had obtained or attempted to obtain hazmat endorsements.