Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen will continue to in his role as National Incident Commander to coordinate the response to the Deepwater BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico after his planned retirement as the top coast guard officer later this month.
“Because Admiral Allen’s leadership has been so critical to our coordinated response to the BP Oil Spill, I have asked him–and he has agreed–to stay on as National Incident Commander after he steps down as Commandant of the Coast Guard later this month,” said Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement.
Allen will be relieved by Adm. Robert Papp as commandant on May 25.
“Since this event began, my focus has been on managing the all-hands-on-deck response to this ongoing incident,” Allen said. “Remaining in my current role as the National Incident Commander after being relieved as the Commandant will allow me to focus solely on this critical response, and Admiral Papp on the vital work of the Coast Guard.”
As National Incident Commander, Admiral Allen works closely with Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry, the federal on-scene coordinator, DHS, and the Departments of Defense, Interior and Commerce, the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal departments and agencies as appropriate, as well as BP, to oversee the continued deployment and coordination of vital response assets, personnel and equipment that have been activated since immediately after the spill, according to the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command center.