Portal:United States Coast Guard/Selected biography/1

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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 terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 while serving as Atlantic Area Commander and Commander of the Maritime Defense Zone Atlantic.