Adrienne Camire, acting head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, has left the agency after two weeks in the role, an FMCSA spokesperson confirmed to Trucking Dive Tuesday night.
The agency did not provide a reason for the departure of Camire, a former chief counsel at the Federal Highway Administration.
“Adrienne Camire is no longer with the agency,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. “I can confirm Jesse Elison is the senior political official at FMCSA.”
Trucking industry trade publications began reporting Camire’s exit last week after the agency scrubbed the acting administrator from its leadership page without explanation. The Department of Transportation had announced her appointment on March 10.
Elison, FMCSA’s chief counsel, is an industry insider who previously represented trucking companies including Montgomery Transport and the Bennett Family of Companies, per his LinkedIn. He was appointed in January, according to his FMCSA biography.
Elison and Chief Safety Officer Sue Lawless are leading the agency as President Donald Trump’s nomination of former Florida Highway Patrol Chief Derek Barrs as permanent administrator heads to the Senate.
Regardless of why Camire left, industry interests got what they wanted with Barrs’ nomination. The American Trucking Associations, the Truckload Carriers Association and National Tank Truck Carriers lobbied for the pick, citing his “extensive leadership in commercial enforcement,” in a Jan. 28 letter to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
