Strickland Tapped to Head NHTSA

President Obama nominated Senate staff counsel David L. Strickland to be administrator at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Department of Transportation.

Strickland has for eight years been on the staff of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. As senior counsel for the panel’s consumer protection subcommittee, he is the lead staffer for NHTSA oversight and for the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said Strickland “is the Senate’s leading staff expert on fuel economy and vehicle safety,” and played a key role in various pieces of transportation safety and funding legislation including the 2005 multi-year transport spending bill.

Rockefeller also said the aide “is well-respected by the members of the Commerce Committee and all of the stakeholders who work with NHTSA, including the industry, safety advocates and environmental groups.”

Issues he has worked on include updating fleet fuel economy standards, plus NHTSA’s seatbelt and drunk driving grant programs.

The White House sent the nomination to the Senate Dec. 4.

Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com.