The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said Monday it will impose additional identity verification requirements on certain users of its Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, expanding checks for employers, medical review officers, substance abuse professionals and third-party administrators.
The agency said the new process will be handled through IDEMIA, the same system the Department of Homeland Security uses at airports nationwide, as part of an effort to strengthen fraud prevention, improve record accuracy and enhance accountability across a database used by more than six million users. FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs said safety is "non-negotiable" and that the agency is closing gaps that could be exploited by bad actors while protecting the integrity of the data.
The Clearinghouse is the online database employers, law enforcement and state agencies use to identify drivers barred from operating commercial vehicles because of drug or alcohol violations. FMCSA said CDL holders are already verified through state systems, and that the new requirements now apply only to the four user groups named in Monday's announcement.
The move fits into a broader tightening of the agency's systems. FMCSA conducted a soft launch of its Motus registration platform in December 2025, then told motor carriers and other registered entities earlier in April 2026 to make sure their FMCSA Portal accounts were active and accurate before the new system goes live. Motus is now limited to transportation service providers, BOC-3 filers and financial responsibility filers, but the agency plans to open it to all users, including motor carriers, sometime in 2026.
That leaves a clear direction for FMCSA's next step: the identity checks that began with Clearinghouse users are not the endpoint but the opening phase of a wider security overhaul. The agency said future phases will extend the requirements to most other users, turning a targeted verification push into a broader gatekeeping system around its registration and safety databases.