The government's 'rock star' in charge of the oil spill

[IndianaGreen]

The government's 'rock star' in charge of the oil spill

Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen has long commanded respect for his leadership in disaster response. How he handles the spill in the Gulf of Mexico could be his crowning achievement — or an irrevocable blemish.

By Jim Tankersley, Los Angeles Times

June 1, 2010 | 5:40 p.m.

Reporting from Houma, La. — - Response Day 37 began at 6 a.m. with a weather report, then an accounting of boats, burns and recon flights.

Inside a drab conference room filled to capacity, a projector flashed maps showing tendrils of oil advancing on the Louisiana coast. Finally, all eyes turned to the man in the mustache and green flight suit at the head of a horseshoe of tables.

The government and private response workers in the audience had watched cable news belittle their battle against the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Now, the commander in that fight, the man in the mustache, warned his troops that the scrutiny was about to intensify. He welcomed it.

"You don't need to get caught up on CNN," Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said. Reporters and critics, he added, "don't scare me, and sometimes I scare them."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-spill-allen-20100602,0,6566339.story