Disaster by Committee is an Unmitigated Disaster
A couple days ago, one of my left-wing commenters too umbrage with my idea that the President stop treating Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen like a “fierce advocate” and start treating him like a military commander with a distinct chain of command. The commenter in question claimed that Allen wasn’t a military commander (heh) but the head of “the Unified Command…which BTW has an extremely well-defined ‘chain of command’.”
I guess that “well-defined chain of command” isn’t very well-defined at all.
Eight days ago, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal ordered barges to begin vacuuming crude oil out of his state’s oil-soaked waters. Today, against the governor’s wishes, those barges sat idle, even as more oil flowed toward the Louisiana shore.
Towns along the coast are through waiting for the government?s help.“It’s the most frustrating thing,” the Republican governor said today in Buras, La. “Literally, yesterday morning we found out that they were halting all of these barges.”
Sixteen barges sat stationary today, although they were sucking up thousands of gallons of BP’s oil as recently as Tuesday. Workers in hazmat suits and gas masks pumped the oil out of the Louisiana waters and into steel tanks. It was a homegrown idea that seemed to be effective at collecting the thick gunk.
“These barges work. You’ve seen them work. You’ve seen them suck oil out of the water,” said Jindal.
Real results can not stand against stultifying bureaucracy, though, and so the barges sat idle for an entire day. The oil was not so idle. And why did the Coast Guard keep the barges at the dock? Apparently, the USCG couldn’t confirm that the barges had the requires fire extinguishers and lifejackets on board.
The situation could ahve been resolved sooner with a command decision from someone high up the ladder but Unified Command seems to be a bit of an oxymoron these days. It’s neither unified nor in command.
The governor said he didn’t have the authority to overrule the Coast Guard’s decision, though he said he tried to reach the White House to raise his concerns.
“They promised us they were going to get it done as quickly as possible,” he said. But “every time you talk to someone different at the Coast Guard, you get a different answer.”
The situation isn’t any better in Alabama either, where Governor Riley is on record with his frustration over the lack of executive presence.
While the Gulf Coast governors have developed plans with the Coast Guard’s command center in the Gulf, things begin to shift when other agencies start weighing in, like the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“It’s like this huge committee down there,” Riley said, “and every decision that we try to implement, any one person on that committee has absolute veto power.”
In other words, Admiral Allen seems not to be in charge at all, since his decisions are subject to reversal by agencies which have no business at all in the command structure at this point. That is not Allen’s fault, but a failing of his boss in the White House.
Now remember, folks, this is the same government that says it can get you high-quality health care without rationing at little to no cost to you.
Other Posts of Interest:
- How the Oil Turns: From Selling it Snake-Style to Drowning in It.
- Stay Calm Everyone! The President is On The Television Tonight!
Category: Thinking About Energy
Ah, I see the Jimbotron is still making others do his homework for him.
The fact is, Thad Allen is no longer Commandant of the Coast Guard; he ceded command at the end of May. He serves as the National Incident Commander for the oil spill response effort, which is not a military command (heh).
And yes, the command structure is well-defined, whether you think it's efficient or not:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incident_Command_Sys…
But far be it from you to launch a rant off a false assertion.
Oh, and perhaps I should point out something about the rest of your rant.
The barges in question are part of the state oil spill cleanup effort. Which is not part of the Unified Command. So the question was between Jindal and the Coast Guard, not the Unified Command.
http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/29…
So you're right, Thad Allen isn't in charge…just not in the way you mean.
The Coast Guard operates under the auspices of the leader of the Unified Command and the Commandant of the Coast Guard. Both positions happen to be filled by the same man. And my point stands. The Unified Command is hardly unified and not commanding.
Our President is failing hard.
The Jimbotron sez:
Well no, it doesn't. Especially when it is acting in its normal capacity in enforcing the vessel inspection laws of the United States and regulations and standards promulgated under those laws. As it was here. You could actually look that up but it would require doing some, you know, research.
Well no, they're not. As I pointed out above. Exactly what part of "Thad Allen is no longer Commandant of the Coast Guard; he ceded command at the end of May" was not clear?
(Unlike you, I'm perfectly willing to back up my assertions with links. For instance: http://coastguardnews.com/admiral-papp-assumes-co… )
A point completely unsupported by anything you posted here.
Two notes:
1) I work with the Coast Guard on a regular basis and have for the past 21 years. When there is an ongoing emergency operation, all the assets are considered tasked to the emergency. The same goes true for state and local emergency units on the water. If you need someone to handle another incident, you pull them off the emrgency detail with the permission of the Incident Commander and the unit returns to the incident as soon as it's done. Routine vessel inspections, especially of vessels tasked to the ongoing emergency operation, would be of the lowest priorityif not entirely suspended.
2) Note that the delay was due to the Coast Guard units not being able to get hold of someone responsible for the boats. That's inexcuseable. All they had to do was contact the Incident Command, who would have been able to get that information very quickly from the state representatives. Unified incident command exists to do two things: facilitate the fast flow of information and cut through inter-agency "red tape". The incident command system failed in this case as it has been failing all along in the Gulf. Again, this comes from professional experience and not a little bit of ICS training. Of course, you could refer to your own link. It is possible that the administration has decided not to use the National Response Framework (which incorporates the ICS), which would also be inexcuseable since it was built to handle a large-scale, interagency emergency response and has many years of testing and experience behind it. Be sure to note the objectives of the NRF.
3) You are correct. Thad Allen is no longer Commandant of the Coast Guard. I admit a mistake. However, it really doesn't matter whether he is or not. I stressed that as a furthering of the point, not a fundamental part of it. Essentially, he went from commanding the entire USCG to commanding the USCG operating in the Gulf. It is enough that his command structure has failed. This, by the way, is baffling since Allen was instrumental (with his high-level work during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita) in making the National Response Framework what it is today.
4) My point is entirely supported by my original post. Do read the quotes from two governors about how there is apparently no one person in charge and how the entire effort is being run by committee. That is the antithesis of the National Response Framework. I need provide no more evidence than those quotes to demonstrate it.
Well, that was certainly more than two, wasn't it? Ah well, I'm sure you'll criticize me for that as well. Enjoy. This is my last on the matter. I'm moving on to another post about which you can summon your righteous indignance.
You are the one who dragged ME into this post, Jimmuh. So complaining about my criticism is pretty rich – especially as you now admit (thanks to MY research) that your reason for dragging me into this was mistaken.
Despite your cut and paste descriptions of interagency relations, this WAS a situation where the Coast Guard was enforcing vessel safety regulations.
You will note that Jindal did NOT notify the Unified Command, but called the White House. What a nitwit, since according to you all it would have taken would have been a single phone call to the Unified Command…unless, of course, he knew a little better than you what the relationship between a state program and the Coast Guard involved in this case.
As someone with your vast experience should know, basic safety requirements would be suspended only in the most extreme cases. This is not a case of pulling Coast Guard inspectors off emergency duties to make sure pop's cruiser has enough life vests, this is a case of ensuring that emergency vessels operating in hazardous conditions met even the basic safety requirements.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N1763752…
I have no doubt if workers had been injured in an onboard fire or if one of the boats had capsized because of improper stability practices and/or workers were injured or drowned because of inadequate lifesaving equipment, helpful folks like you would be the first ones to scream about how Obama has failed AGAIN!!! to keep us safe.
But then again, you seem to know all about manufactured outrage.
And you will have the last word on this matter because, quite honestly, your penchant for writing criticisms of my posts that are, in aggregate, longer than my posts is truly tedious to me.
And your penchant for less than honest hyperbole is not even giggle-worthy.
Shame. At least one of us is amused, though.
Oh I have no doubt you spend a fair amount of time giggling.
Damn, here I was coming to correct Jimmie and I see someone's already picking up my slack.
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