Posted on 05/03/2010 5:13:53 AM PDT by chambley1
When it comes to dealing with incidents in and around New Orleans, it appears there's only one man for the job: Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen.
Allen, of course, was the go-to guy in the Hurricane Katrina response after the initial federal effort went awry. Now Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has tapped him to serve as "national incident commander" for the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
He'll work with the Defense, Interior and Commerce departments, along with the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies, to coordinate the response to the looming environmental disaster.
Thad Allen is the professional of the group (Obama, Napolitano and Salazar). He knows how to get things done.
BTW, Napolitano was on Fox & Friends earlier. In spite of being pressed, she refused to use the word “terror” or “terrorism” (even with the adjectives “attempted” or “potential”) to describe the Times Square incident. Following her was Rudy who hit the nail on the head by saying if the administration won’t admit there is a problem how are they going to confront it?
Thad Allen is also the fall guy for when this operation goes tango-uniform, and it’s close to that point already. That’s why the pols like to put military guys in charge. They know how to get things done, but if you need to fire someone, they’re easy to get rid of.
I personally feel sorry for Admiral Allen...he’s working for a bunch of incompetent political hacks. I hope he’s retained copies of his e-mails to his superiors. If he gets the axe, they will be useful in depicting how the Coast Guard tried to sound the alarm, but it was ignored in Washington.
Good luck, Admiral. You have how many czars to “coordinate” with? And guess what? No matter how they hinder you, only you will get the blame.
Allen is scheduled to retire on May 25th. I wonder if he’ll stay on the assignment after that.
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