Thad William Allen (born 16 January 1949) is a former

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

of the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

who served as the 23rd

commandant Commandant ( or ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ran ...

from 2006 to 2010. Allen is best known for his widely praised"Coast Guard's Chief of Staff To Assist FEMA Head Brown", ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', 7 September 2005 performance directing the federal response to hurricanes

Katrina Katrina or Katrine may refer to: People * Katrina (given name) * Katrine (given name) Meteorology * List of storms named Katrina, a list of tropical cyclones designated as Katrina ** Hurricane Katrina, an exceptionally powerful Atlantic hurrican ...

and

Rita Rita may refer to: People * Rita (given name) * Rita (Indian singer) (born 1984) * Rita (Israeli singer) (born 1962) * Rita (Japanese singer) * Eliza Humphreys (1850–1938), wrote under the pseudonym Rita Places * Djarrit, also known as Rita, ...

in the

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Mississ ...

region from September 2005 to January 2006, and for his role as National Incident Commander of the Unified Command for the

Deepwater Horizon oil spill The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill (also referred to as the "BP oil spill") was an industrial disaster that began on 20 April 2010 off of the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect, considered ...

in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

in 2010. Robert J. Papp Jr. succeeded him as Commandant on 25 May 2010. Allen remained on active duty for 36 days after being succeeded as commandant while serving as Deepwater Horizon National Incident Commander. He officially retired from the U.S. Coast Guard on 30 June 2010, but continued to serve as National Incident Commander for an additional three months. He has worked as an Executive Vice President at

Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (informally Booz Allen) is the parent of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., an American management and information technology consulting firm, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in Greater Washington, D.C., with 8 ...

since November 2011.

Early life and education

Allen was born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, the son of retired U.S. Coast Guard

chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

damage controlman and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

veteran Clyde and Mrs. Wilma Allen. Allen is a 1967 graduate of

Palo Verde High School Palo Verde High School is a high school in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. The school was built in 1996 with an adjacent 10 portable classrooms located in Summerlin, a rapidly growing suburban community in the western portion of the City of Las ...

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

. His family moved frequently during his childhood with his father's assignments. He attended the

United States Coast Guard Academy The United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) is a service academy of the United States Coast Guard in New London, Connecticut. Founded in 1876, it is the smallest of the five U.S. service academies and provides education to future Coast Gu ...

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decades ...

, where he was a standout football player, graduating in 1971. He holds a

Master of Public Administration The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...

degree from

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

and a Master's degree in Management (S.M.) from the

MIT Sloan School of Management The MIT Sloan School of Management (MIT Sloan or Sloan) is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT Sloan offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs, ...

as a

Sloan Fellow The Sloan Fellows program is the world's first mid-career and senior career master's degree in general management and leadership. It was initially supported by a grant from Alfred P. Sloan, the late CEO of General Motors, to his alma mater, MIT ...

.Official biography
U.S. Coast Guard website

Career

United States Coast Guard

In his four decades of service, Allen has held operational command both at sea and ashore, conducting missions to support the maritime safety, security and environmental stewardship interests of the nation. Allen was the last commanding officer of

LORAN LORAN, short for long range navigation, was a hyperbolic radio navigation system developed in the United States during World War II. It was similar to the UK's Gee system but operated at lower frequencies in order to provide an improved range u ...

Station Lampang, Thailand, serving there from 1974 to 1975. Station Lampang was part of the LORAN chain first put into use in 1966 as part of "Operation Tight Reign" in support of military operations in the Vietnam War.Johnson, p 203 He served aboard USCGC ''Androscoggin'' (WHEC-68), and USCGC ''Gallatin'' (WHEC-721) and commanded USCGC ''Citrus'' (WLB-300). He performed dual roles as commanding officer of Group Long Island Sound and Captain of the Port, and he commanded Group Atlantic City. He also commanded the Seventh Coast Guard District in Miami and the Atlantic Area in Portsmouth, Virginia.

Flag officer

Admiral Thad Allen portrait painting by Michele Rushworth

Allen's first assignment as a

flag officer A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which the officer exercises command. The term is used differently in different countries: *In many countr ...

was as Director of Resources at Coast Guard Headquarters then Commander, Seventh Coast Guard District, where he directed all operations in the Southeastern United States and Caribbean. Following that assignment he served as Commander, Atlantic Area and U.S. Maritime Defense Zone Atlantic. In this capacity he oversaw all Coast Guard operations on the U.S. East Coast, Gulf Coast, and Great Lakes in the aftermath of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

. Allen served as the U.S. 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.

Hurricane Katrina

On 5 September 2005, while serving as Coast Guard Chief of Staff, Allen was appointed deputy to

Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exec ...

Director

Michael D. Brown Michael DeWayne Brown (born November 8, 1954) is an American attorney and former government official who served as the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from 2003 to 2005. He joined FEMA as general counsel in 2001 an ...

Homeland Security Secretary The United States secretary of homeland security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the federal department tasked with ensuring public safety in the United States. The secretary is a member of the Cabinet of the U ...

Michael Chertoff Michael Chertoff (born November 28, 1953) is an American attorney who was the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security to serve under President George W. Bush. Chertoff also served for one additional day under President Barack Obama. H ...

, and placed in charge of

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

search-and-rescue and recovery efforts. Former colleagues interviewed after the announcement praised Allen as well-suited to the task. On 9 September 2005, Allen was given full command of the Bush administration's Hurricane Katrina onsite relief efforts. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff elevated Allen following the removal of Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael D. Brown from that position. Allen announced on 25 January that he would be relieved of this responsibility on 27 January 2006.

Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard

Allen assumed the duties of the 23rd

Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard The commandant of the Coast Guard is the service chief and highest-ranking member of the United States Coast Guard. The commandant is an admiral, appointed for a four-year term by the president of the United States upon confirmation by the Uni ...

on 25 May 2006. He was appointed to a four-year term by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

and confirmed by the Senate. Admiral

Robert J. Papp, Jr. Admiral Robert Joseph Papp Jr. (born 25 March 1953) is a retired admiral of the United States Coast Guard who served as the 24th commandant from 2010 to 2014. He led the largest component of the United States Department of Homeland Security, wi ...

succeeded him as Commandant on 25 May 2010, in a change of command ceremony.

Deepwater Horizon oil spill

On 30 April 2010, Homeland Security Secretary

Janet Napolitano Janet Ann Napolitano (; born November 29, 1957) is an American politician, lawyer, and university administrator who served as the 21st governor of Arizona from 2003 to 2009 and third United States secretary of homeland security from 2009 to 20 ...

announced that Allen would serve as the National Incident Commander for the federal government's response to the

in the

. After the end of his service as Commandant on 25 May 2010, Allen continued serving as National Incident Commander until 1 October 2010, when that billet was disestablished. He also remained on active duty in the Coast Guard until June 30, 2010, which was the first time in history the Coast Guard had two active duty four-star admirals. The position of

Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard The vice commandant of the Coast Guard serves as the second-in-command of the United States Coast Guard, behind only the commandant of the Coast Guard. Since 1929, 31 officers have served as Vice Commandant, or, as the position was referred to ...

has since been made a four-star rank. His official U.S. Coast Guard portrait, painted by artist

Michele Rushworth Michele Rushworth is an American artist noted for her oil-based portrait paintings. She has painted the official portraits of leading figures in government, law, education, medicine and the arts, including nine state gubernatorial portraits

was unveiled at

Fort Lesley J. McNair Fort Lesley J. McNair is a United States Army post located on the tip of Greenleaf Point, the peninsula that lies at the confluence of the Potomac River and the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. To the peninsula's west is the Washington Cha ...

upon his retirement. Allen is a member of the

Coast Guard Academy The United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) is a service academy of the United States Coast Guard in New London, Connecticut. Founded in 1876, it is the smallest of the five U.S. service academies and provides education to future Coast Gu ...

Board of Trustees. He was also the director of the

bureaucratic The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...

transition of the Coast Guard from the Department of Transportation to the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

RAND Corporation and Booz Allen Hamilton

In October 2010, Allen joined the

RAND Corporation The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed ...

as a senior fellow. On 28 November 2011,

named Allen a Senior Vice President, joining the firm's Justice and Homeland Security business and leading development of thought leadership and client engagement regarding the direction of law enforcement and homeland security.

Personal life

Allen resides in

Vienna, Virginia Vienna () is a town in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, Vienna has a population of 16,473. Significantly more people live in ZIP codes with the Vienna postal addresses (22180, 22181, and 22182), bordered approx ...

, with his wife Pamela A. Hess, whom he married in October 1975. They have three children and five grandchildren. He was elected a National Academy of Public Administration Fellow in 2003. Allen's civilian awards include the 2006 Strategic Vision Award by the Global Strategy Institute (GSI) of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). In 2009, he was awarded the Admiral Of The Ocean Sea Award (AOTOS) from the United Seaman's Service and the 2009 Business Achievement Award given by

Beta Gamma Sigma Beta Gamma Sigma () is the International Business Honor Society. Founded in 1913 at the University of Wisconsin, University of Illinois and the University of California, it has over 980,000 members, selected from more than 600 collegiate chapters ...

, the academic

honor society In the United States, an honor society is a rank organization that recognizes excellence among peers. Numerous societies recognize various fields and circumstances. The Order of the Arrow, for example, is the National Honor Society of the Boy Sc ...

affiliated with the

Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, also known as AACSB International, is an American professional organization. It was founded as the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business in 1916 to provide accreditation to ...

. He was nominated for this award by the United States Coast Guard Academy. Allen, in May 2013, also received an honorary doctorate in public service from the

. Allen is a member of the

Homeland Security Advisory Council The Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. It was created by an Executive Order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the Unit ...

Awards and decorations

Citations

References used

* ''Portions of this biography were taken from the Coast Guard's official biography https://www.history.uscg.mil/Browse-by-Topic/Notable-People/All/Article/1762857/admiral-thad-w-allen/'' *

External links

*
Harvard Business Review Podcast: Leading Through a Major Crisis

new unified command, Cdr.: ADM (Ret.) Thad Allen

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

, 9 September 2005
Thad Allen to lead Katrina recovery effortMarine Log.com
9 September 2005

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

press release, 9 January 2006 * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Thad 1949 births Booz Allen Hamilton people Commandants of the United States Coast Guard Fellows of the United States National Academy of Public Administration Trachtenberg School of Public Policy & Public Administration alumni Living people MIT Sloan Fellows MIT Sloan School of Management alumni People from Los Angeles Military personnel from Tucson, Arizona People from Vienna, Virginia Recipients of the Coast Guard Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the Homeland Security Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the Legion of Merit United States Coast Guard Academy alumni United States Coast Guard admirals United States Department of Homeland Security officials Recipients of the Meritorious Service Medal (United States)