Interview: VADM Thad Allen, Commander LANTAREA & District 5 on September 11, 2001

Attack on America: September 11, 2001 & the U.S. Coast Guard

Interview details

Series: Operation Noble Eagle Documentation Project

Interviewee: Vice Admiral Thad W. Allen, USCG Commander, Atlantic Area & Fifth Coast Guard District

Interviewer: PAC Peter Capelotti, USCGR

Date of Interview: 22 March 2002

Place: Portsmouth, Virginia

Photo: Vice Admiral Thad Allen
Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen

Abstract

This oral history captures Vice Admiral Thad W. Allen’s firsthand account of leading the Coast Guard’s Atlantic Area and Fifth Coast Guard District through the immediate aftermath of September 11, 2001 — having taken command just three months before the attacks. In this interview with PAC Peter Capelotti (March 22, 2002), Admiral Allen recounts the unprecedented port security response, rapid resource deployment along the East Coast, and the command decisions made in the crisis’s first hours, days, and weeks.

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Read the full oral history transcript to read Admiral Allen’s complete firsthand account of the Coast Guard’s response on September 11, 2001, including the port closures, resource decisions, and command coordination in the days that followed.