Congratulations to the National Incident Command and Teams

A hearty congratulations to those responsible for the massive response operation for dealing with the Deepwater Horizon sinking and the related leaking of the Macondo 252 well in the Gulf of Mexico. As of this morning, the well has officially been declared dead.

This massive effort included thousands of people from the Coast Guard (active duty, reserve, auxiliary, and civilian components), a host of other federal alphabet specialty organizations (NOAA, EPA, DoI, and many others I'm not aware of), State and DoD organizations, BP and a bunch of contractors, and thousands of seafarers, fishermen, and other local individuals. The magnitude of this disaster required a response that was unprecedented in size and scope.

Further, this was the first national-scale implementation of the National Incident Response System (NIMS) - at least for the Coast Guard. All of the levels and components of the system that we all studied in abstract and theory became flesh and blood, staffed with real people, and fully functional. As with any first such implementation, there were bottlenecks and disconnects for sure, but overall it was an incredible learning experience for all involved, especially those from the Coast Guard Auxiliary, for whom it was their first full participation in such an event.

The knowledge gained will be of significant value to those in leadership positions and will position us well for future events.

My hat is off to Admiral Allen and his incredible team. Well-done, all.