Bush Puts Forward Likely Leaders of FTA &  NHTSA
IVsource.net
20 June 2001

New names have been proposed for the top Highway Safety and Transit slots at the US Department of Transportation ... but it may be a while before they can show up for work.

President George W. Bush has announced that he will likely name Jeffrey Runge to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's leadership post.  Also, Jenna Dorn has been nominated as the next Federal Transit Administrator.  Both agencies are part of the US Department of Transportation, which is now headed by former Californian Congressman and Lockheed Martin VP Norm Mineta.

Runge, like his predecessor at NHTSA, Ricardo Martinez, is a medical doctor, with an interest in crash injury and injury control.  He is currently a clinical associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of North Carolina, and would very likely prove to be adept at handling issues and programs like "driver distraction" and the safety components of DOT's multidisciplinary Intelligent Vehicle Initiative (IVI). The agency will continue under the interim leadership of Robert Shelton until the new administrator can be confirmed.

Until recently, Dorn was President of the National Health Museum; from 1991 to 1998 she was Senior Vice President of the American Red Cross.  No stranger to Washington, she served as Assistant Secretary of Labor from 1989 to 1991 and held several positions at the Department of Transportation from 1983 to 1987, including Associate Deputy Secretary and Director of the Office of Commercial Space Transportation.

No one has yet been announced for the Federal Highway Administration leadership spot, a critical USDOT post -- the Administrator there is gatekeeper to more than $20 billion annually in Federal Aid to the US states and territories, as well as the bulk of intelligent vehicle research funds.  Executive Director Vince Schimoller continues at the helm, following the January departure of Ken Wykle.

Confirmation hearings will take several months due to scheduling issues, the Democratic swapover in the Senate, and the Summer congressional recess.  How long until a hearing is scheduled?  Grumbled one subcommittee staffer: "That's up to the Democrats now."

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