Joseph M. Clapp, the top truck-safety officer in the Department of Transportation, will leave the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration next month, U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta announced today.

"I know he is looking forward to resuming the retirement he was enjoying before his call to service," Mineta said. Clapp has been in the post 14 months and was not available to explain why he's leaving.

Mineta also announced that Annette M. Sandberg, who has served as deputy administrator of DOT's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration since Feb. 11, 2002, was named FMCSA's deputy administrator, effective Nov. 25.

The former chairman and CEO of Akron, OH-based Roadway Express, Clapp was the first FMCSA administrator. The agency was created in 1999 to address truck safety.

Clapp recently presided over the drafting of rules to govern the entry of Mexican trucking companies into the United States. A decision permitting entry was expected last summer. However, Mineta must first certify the border is safe, then President Bush must lift a 1995 moratorium on cross-border trucking between the United States and Mexico.

In a press release announcing Clapp's departure, DOT said "The Bush administration is committed to opening the U.S. southern border for Mexican truck and bus operations and ensuring that qualified Mexican-domiciled motor vehicles operate safely in the United States."

Meanwhile, Clapp's top assistant, Chief Safety Officer Julie Anna Cirillo, plans to retire at the end of the year. Clapp has been interviewing possible replacements for Cirillo, but there is no official word on when the job will be filled.