Thad W. Allen

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Thad W. Allen
Born January 16, 1949

Allegiance	United States Coast Guard
Years of service	1967 - present
Rank	Admiral
Commands	Commandant of the Coast Guard
Battles/wars	Hurricane Katrina response September 11, 2001 attacks

Flag of the Commandant of the United States Coast Guard

Admiral Thad William Allen (born January 16, 1949) is the twenty-third Commandant of the United States Coast Guard. Allen is most well known for his widely-praised performance directing the federal response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf Coast region from September 2005 to January 2006.

Allen served as the Coast Guard's chief of staff from May 2002 until May 2006. As chief of staff, Allen was third in the Coast Guard's command structure, and was commanding officer of Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Allen directed the Coast Guard's East Coast response efforts to the September 11, 2001 attacks while serving as Atlantic Area Commander and Commander of the Maritime Defense Zone Atlantic.

He was also the director of the bureaucratic transition of the Coast Guard from the Department of Transportation to the Department of Homeland Security.

1 Hurricane Katrina
2 Background
3 Personal
4 Notes
5 External links

[edit] Hurricane Katrina

On September 5, 2005, Allen was appointed deputy to Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael D. Brown by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, and placed in charge of Hurricane Katrina search-and-rescue and recovery efforts. Former colleagues interviewed after the announcement praised Allen as well-suited to the task.^[1]

On September 9, 2005, Vice Admiral Allen was given full command of the Bush administration's Hurricane Katrina onsite relief efforts. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff elevated Allen following the removal of Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael D. Brown from that position. Admiral Allen announced on January 25 that he would be relieved of this responsibility on January 27, 2006.^[2]

[edit] Background

Allen, a native of Los Angeles, was raised in Tucson, Arizona. He is a 1967 graduate of Palo Verde High School in Tucson. He attended the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, where he was a standout football player, graduating in 1971. He holds a Master of Public Administration degree from George Washington University and a Master's degree in Management (M.B.A.) from the MIT Sloan School of Management as a Sloan Fellow.

[edit] Personal

Allen resides in Burke, Virginia with his wife Pamela A. Hess, whom he married in October 1975. They have three children and two grandchildren. He followed his father, Clyde Allen, a retired Coast Guard Chief Damage Controlman, into the profession.

[edit] Notes

^ "Coast Guard's Chief of Staff To Assist FEMA Head Brown", Washington Post, September 7, 2005
^ Speech at Coast Guard Station Washington, D.C, January 25, 2006