The finest command-and-control capability in the world is the U.S. military.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I, too, am way overdue for another meeting, so I am going to slip out as well.

In any major disaster such as this and command and control, what I would suggest that you should have is what is standard operating procedure in any major military type chain of command, which is you have a map, you have a specific…

And that is part of the problem, that we are not responding because somebody does not know what is happening.

the present system is not working. The information is not flowing. The decisions are not timely.

What is the problem? The problem is command and control.

We have people in charge that do not know what they are doing.

Oil is now entering Florida waters.

What we have heard from the local officials here today, that the information flow is not there in which a commander can make that decision.

The value that the Chairman and the Ranking Member have brought to the table today is to get you all to understand the lack of communication.

Right now, it took the President of the United States to come down to approve a Jack Up Boat to put in the mouth of the river.

How would you respond to Senator Landrieu's statement that the vessel of opportunity is employed in a place where the oil is not?