Trust But Verify

For years, many parts of the trucking ecosystem operated on what was effectively an honor system. We trusted training providers to properly train drivers. We trusted states to issue credentials correctly. We trusted brokers, carriers, and drivers to maintain accurate records. Increasingly, federal and state agencies are concluding that trust alone is not enough. Verification is becoming the new standard—and the change is visible everywhere.

The End of the Honor System

Take Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT) as an example. When the Training Provider Registry was established, participation relied heavily on self-certification. That approach is now under intense scrutiny. Nearly 10,000 training-provider locations have been removed from the registry, hundreds more remain under review, and federal investigators are examining dozens of CDL schools for allegedly falsified records. At the same time, FMCSA is weighing a provider-certification rulemaking that could move the industry away from pure self-certification toward ongoing verification and oversight. The message is clear: regulators no longer provide assurances that training occurred. They want proof.

The enforcement posture escalated sharply in late August, when U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin joined the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud and top U.S. Attorneys to

The CDL Squeeze

The same trend is occurring in the CDL credentialing space. The new non-domiciled CDL rule significantly narrows eligibility, potentially affecting a substantial portion of the current non-domiciled driver population as licenses expire. Meanwhile, states continue to examine improperly issued licenses and English Language Proficiency (ELP) requirements, with ELP now emerging as a leading driver of out-of-service conditions. The August interagency effort underscored how quickly this can move, and in nearly every case, the burden of ensuring compliance ultimately falls on the motor carrier.

Brokers After Montgomery

Brokers are facing similar pressure. The Supreme Court’s decision in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II fundamentally changed the conversation around carrier selection. The ruling did not automatically make brokers liable for every crash involving a motor carrier, but it removed a major defense by allowing state-law negligent-hiring claims to proceed. In addition, FMCSA is tightening its focus on broker qualifications and has a broker transparency rule on its Docket for action. The practical implication is significant: brokers must now be prepared to demonstrate that they exercised reasonable care when selecting carriers. Documentation, audit trails, and verification records suddenly matter more than ever.

The Carrier and the Digital Threat

We see the same pattern in cargo theft. Modern cargo theft increasingly involves identity manipulation, fictitious pickups, double-brokering, stolen credentials, and what some investigators call the “Trojan-horse driver” problem, in which bad actors infiltrate legitimate companies. Cargo theft has evolved from a physical security issue into an identity verification challenge. Knowing that a carrier exists is no longer enough. Knowing who is operating under that authority is becoming equally important.

Even electronic logging devices tell the same story. FMCSA and CVSA have intensified their focus on ELD tampering and record falsification. Enforcement officials are increasingly comparing log records with supporting documentation to identify discrepancies. The fundamental question is no longer whether data exists, but whether the data can be trusted.

The Throughline: One Problem, Many Faces

Viewed together, these developments reveal an important throughline. Cargo theft, broker liability, CDL fraud, ELDT oversight, ELD tampering, ELP enforcement, and registration modernization may appear to be separate issues. They are not. At their core, they are all verification challenges—all attempts to close gaps in credentialing and identity management across the motor carrier, the broker, and the driver.

The industry is moving toward a world where verification is continuous rather than periodic. Regulators want better visibility. Courts want better documentation. Insurers want evidence of reasonable care. Technology providers are building tools designed around verification, documentation, monitoring, and risk scoring precisely because those capabilities solve the underlying problem enforcement agencies are trying to address.

The Bottom Line: Get Your Processes and Paperwork in Order

For motor carriers, the response should be straightforward: get your house in order. Review your driver-qualification files. Verify the status of your ELDT providers. Confirm the validity of driver credentials. Audit your supporting records. Reexamine onboarding processes. Evaluate how frequently you verify carriers, brokers, and drivers, and ensure documentation is accurate, up to date, and readily accessible. What was once considered administrative housekeeping is fast becoming a frontline risk-management strategy.

In other words: trust but verify. The regulators certainly are.

Reprinted from “60 Seconds with STC” September, 2026 edition – https://www.scopelitisconsulting.com