FMCSA’s mission is to reduce injuries, fatalities, and the severity of crashes involving large commercial trucks and buses conducting interstate commerce. With more than 1,000 staff members at headquarters, 4 regional service centers, and 52 division offices (one in each state, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico), FMCSA carries out this mission by administering and enforcing federal motor carrier safety and hazardous materials regulations and by gathering and analyzing data on motor carriers, drivers, and vehicles, among other things. Division offices partner with state agencies to conduct a variety of motor carrier oversight activities carried out by certified auditors, inspectors, and investigators. These oversight activities are funded by Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program grants, which totaled about $165 million in fiscal year 2010. FMCSA’s total budget for fiscal year 2011 was approximately $550 million. The interstate commercial motor carrier industry is large and dynamic. According to Department of Transportation data, there were more than 500,000 active interstate carriers and intrastate hazardous materials carriers in 2010, including about 66,000 new carriers that applied to enter the industry. The vast majority of these carriers apply as freight carriers. While the largest motor carriers operate upwards of 50,000 vehicles, 80 percent of carriers are small—operating between 1 and 6 vehicles. Fatalities due to accidents involving large trucks (including vehicles operated by both freight and household goods carriers) and buses (operated by passenger carriers) generally declined from 2000 through 2009. FMCSA officials attributed the declines to actions taken by the federal government, the motor carrier industry, and safety groups. Fatalities and the estimated fatality rate for large trucks and buses are shown in figure 1. In 2009, more than 3,600 people were killed in crashes involving large trucks and buses. FMCSA oversees two main groups of interstate motor carriers: (1) private carriers, who run an internal trucking operation to support a primary business in another industry, such as a retail store chain, and (2) for-hire carriers that sell their trucking services on the open market. Private and for-hire motor carriers seeking to operate in interstate commerce must register once with FMCSA, and thereby obtain a U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) number—a unique identifier used for collecting and monitoring safety information acquired during audits, compliance reviews, inspections, and crash investigations. USDOT numbers are issued after carriers submit information about their business, such as the name of the business and the company’s officers, a mailing address, business and cell phone numbers, the tax number (employer identification number or social security number) used to identify the business entity, and other information. For private carriers, this submission completes the registration process, and they can begin operating. In contrast, for-hire carriers must also obtain operating authority, which dictates the type of operation the carrier may run and the cargo it may carry.36,209 private carriers registered and 29,421 for-hire carriers applied for operating authority with FMCSA. Before the August 2008 bus crash in Sherman, Texas, FMCSA had no dedicated process to identify and prevent chameleon carriers from applying for and receiving operating authority. At that time, a carrier could take on a new identity by applying online for operating authority using the same information (business name, address, phone number(s), and company officer name(s), or other information) on file for the old carrier. FMCSA did not have a process to identify these applications and thus would have granted operating authority to an apparent new entrant after the carrier submitted the appropriate data. Immediately after the Sherman crash, FMCSA established the vetting program to review each new application for operating authority submitted by for-hire passenger carriers. Subsequently, in April 2009, FMCSA began to apply the vetting program to household goods carriers. Under this program, FMCSA conducts a two-step process: First, FMCSA uses a new applicant screening algorithm to electronically compare and match information contained in the carrier’s application to data for poorly performing carriers dating back This match information is used by a dedicated team (called to 2003.the vetting team) as indicators for further investigation. Second, the vetting team reviews each new for-hire passenger and household goods carrier’s application for completeness and accuracy and takes additional steps to determine whether the applicant is a chameleon carrier. For example, the team compares information in the application to information available on the Internet, including a carrier’s address; phone number; public filings with the state (e.g., articles of incorporation); and, if available, the company website. The vetting team also works with FMCSA division offices to take advantage of local officials’ knowledge of individual carriers. FMCSA’s ability to vet for-hire motor carriers that apply for operating authority stems from the Secretary’s statutory authority to withhold registration for operating authority from a carrier that does not meet federal safety fitness standards or is unwilling and unable to comply with all applicable statutes and regulations. It does not have this authority to vet and, therefore, potentially reject the registrations of private carriers, which may begin to operate as soon as they receive a USDOT number. If the computer-matching process or FMCSA division office review identifies a suspected chameleon carrier, FMCSA requests clarification from the applicant. If the carrier does not respond or the response indicates the applicant is attempting to become a chameleon carrier, FMCSA rejects the application. The entire vetting process, including the electronic matching and the application review, can take anywhere from a few weeks to more than 2 months depending on several factors, including how long it takes the applicant to respond to any FMCSA requests. After a carrier registers for a USDOT number, FMCSA uses the new entrant safety assurance program to examine all new entrants registered to operate in interstate commerce—including all for-hire and private passenger, household goods, and freight carriers—and intrastate hazardous materials carriers. Under this program, which began in 2003, carriers are required to undergo a safety audit within 18 months of obtaining a USDOT number and beginning interstate operations. The purpose of this audit is to determine whether carriers are knowledgeable about and compliant with applicable safety regulations. In 2009, FMCSA added a set of six, yes/no questions to the safety audit designed to elicit information indicative of any connections with other carriers to help the certified auditors and investigators that conduct these audits identify potential chameleon carriers. At the end of the audit, a carrier may pass or fail. If the carrier fails the audit, the carrier may continue to operate, but must submit a plan for corrective action. Upon receiving written confirmation that it has failed the audit, a carrier has between 45 and 60 days to provide an acceptable response or request an administrative review of the safety audit findings before the new entrant registration is revoked and the carrier is no longer permitted to operate in interstate commerce. FMCSA operates other programs that identify suspected chameleon carriers. For example, officials may identify suspected chameleon carriers during compliance reviews, which are in-depth examinations of carriers identified as high crash risks, or during roadside inspections of vehicles that include checks for compliance with driver and maintenance requirements. FMCSA has also implemented a new safety oversight initiative—the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program—under which it plans to introduce several new investigative programs, including targeted roadside inspections, off-site investigations, and on-site focused investigations. Like compliance reviews and roadside inspections, these new oversight programs may identify a suspected chameleon carrier during either a review or a follow-up review or inspection initiated to gather additional evidence on the carrier. Identifying a suspected chameleon carrier is the first step in determining whether the carrier is attempting to conceal its identity. FMCSA and state officials then conduct an investigation. When federal or state investigators or auditors first suspects that a carrier may be a chameleon, they work with officials in one of FMCSA’s 52 division offices and attorneys in four regional service centers to gather evidence and assemble the documentation needed to demonstrate that a new carrier is the same entity as a prior carrier and is attempting to evade a prior FMCSA enforcement action or a poor safety record. After gathering as much information as possible, a division office provides the evidence to a regional service center, where FMCSA attorneys decide whether to initiate a legal process in order to prove that the new carrier is responsible for the actions of the prior carrier (referred to as “corporate successor liability”). As part of their evaluation, the attorneys assess the strength of the evidence and give highest priority to those cases involving carriers with serious safety violations. If the attorneys determine that the evidence for a chameleon carrier case is insufficient, FMCSA does not pursue the case and the carrier continues its operations. The carrier is only recognized as a chameleon once FMCSA proves that the carrier is a chameleon based on the applicable legal standard or a carrier admits it created a new identity to evade detection. Once FMCSA gathers the necessary evidence against a chameleon, FMCSA issues a notice of claim to tie the history of the chameleon carrier to that of its predecessor. The notice of claim may include several enforcement actions, including ordering a carrier to cease operations— called out-of-service orders—for safety violations and failure to pay civil penalties. For example, one of the fines FMCSA assesses on chameleon carriers is for evading regulations, which ranges from $200 to $500 for the first violation and $250 to $2,000 for any subsequent violation, as established by regulation. FMCSA may assess higher civil penalties for carriers that are proven chameleons and can assess any unpaid penalties of the predecessor carrier to the successor carrier.