"It's a Major Prize"

Faulty ocean-going cutters that are 100-percent over-budget and a year late. Boarding teams mistreating boaters. A blogger fired and a news story forged. A whistleblower threatened at gunpoint. Since taking command of the U.S. Coast Guard in 2006, Admiral Thad Allen has presided over an embarrassing chain of bad behavior. So what to do with the man?

Well, if you're the National Defense Industrial Association, you give him a major prize. Last week at a D.C.-area Ritz-Carlton, the trade group awarded Allen their Dwight D. Eisenhower Award, stating that

*Admiral Allen is known for his reasoned leadership in times of crises and his tremendous ability to effect constructive change in an ever changing world. Nowhere is this more evident than in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, when he demonstrated superlative leadership as the Principal Federal Official for response and recovery operations, while also acting as the Coast Guard Chief of
Staff. Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, he was responsible for leading Coast Guard forces as Commander of the Atlantic
Area and U.S. Maritime Defense Zone Atlantic.
*

Etc., etc., blah, blah. Allen managed to get through the Katrina debacle looking like a hero, but since then he's done nothing to halt the Coast Guard's steady unraveling. When will we ever start holding our senior leaders accountable for their organizations' performances?

(Photo: White House)