President Obama this week nominated Vice Adm. Robert Papp to succeed Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen in May 2010 if confirmed by the Senate.
Papp is currently commander of the Coast Guard Atlantic Area and Defense Force East, which means he is the operational commander for all of the service’s missions within the eastern half of the world. Prior to his current command, Papp served as the chief of staff of the Coast Guard in Washington, overseeing all management functions within the service. He also was the Coast Guard’s chief congressional liaison as well.
Allen, who was confirmed as commandant in the spring of 2006, is credited with boosting the Coast Guard’s capabilities in acquisition, in particular enabling the service to get greater control over the Deepwater modernization program. He also initiated a multistep effort to modernize the Coast Guard’s command and control structure, creating a deputy commandant for operations to align operational plans, polity and resources.
Allen also established an Operations Command to transform the regionally divided command structure into a centralized, functionally-based organization. He also established a Readiness Command based on standardized doctrine, training, tactics and procedures to allocate forces for sustained mission execution.