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Washington (CNN) — As he reflects on lessons learned from dealing with the Gulf oil spill, the man charged with leading the federal response gave embattled energy giant BP a mixed grade Sunday.

Asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” to give BP a grade from “A” to “F,” retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen assessed different aspects of the company’s response to the blown out well.

“At the well head, I’m not sure there’s any oil company that could have done anything more than they did,” Allen told CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley. “The technology that was needed to be brought in for other parts of the world, was [brought in]. It took a long time to engineer it. It took a long time to install it. But, ultimately, it helped us put the cap on and control the well. So I give them fairly good marks there.”

But Allen added that where the energy giant’s performance has been lacking is in having a human touch.

“What BP is not good at: they’re a large global oil production company. They don’t do retail sales or deal with individuals on a transactional basis. Anything that’s involved, that has been a real struggle for them,” Allen said.

He added, “It’s something they don’t naturally have a capacity or a competency in their company and it’s been very, very hard for them to understand. And that’s the lens by which the American people view them and that’s the area where they need to improve the most.”

Video: BP oil clean up ‘still substantial’

Video: Oil still threatens Gulf waters

Video: Oil’s big vanishing act continues

Allen also reflected on what the oil industry has learned in terms of production technology in the course of trying to bring the rogue well under control.

The former Coast Guard official said technology of the sort used to cap the well must be made a part of deepwater drilling going forward.

“Oil production in the Gulf of Mexico was done by wells that were on the bottom of the ocean with all the technology on the bottom of the ocean where there was no human access and all the oil was moved by pipes,” he said. “We’ve had to bring in technology from the North Sea and off the coast of Africa to build these floating risers to create a production system that’s able to deal with this spill.

“I think what everybody’s learned moving through this is that there’s going to have to be a different type of production method out there that includes the type of technology that they’ve used to cap this well and capture the oil and that needs to be a permanent part moving forward.”

Asked whether the new technology could be integrated by November when the Obama administration’s moratorium on deepwater drilling is set to be lifted, Allen pointed out that the necessary technology “has already been built around this well.”

He added that the oil and gas industry is already starting to consider forming a consortium “to keep this type of equipment and take a look at it. And that’s going to have to be a fundamental part of this.”

Allen gives BP a mixed grade

(CNN) — Longtime Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel of New York will be the subject of the House ethics committee’s first corruption trial in almost a decade unless his attorneys reach an agreement to settle his charges.

The House ethics committee on Thursday will make public a report of Rangel’s alleged violations. After a nearly two-year investigation of Rangel, the committee’s report could bring a trial by a panel subcommittee in September.

A formal hearing would be a trial-like session involving formal charges with lawyers for the House acting as prosecutors and Rangel’s attorneys defending him, but some experts don’t foresee Rangel making it to the trial stage.

“I think all sides are going to be motivated to reach some kind of resolution short of the public hearings,” said Robert Walker, former chief counsel and staff director of both the Senate and House ethics committees.

Rangel said he welcomes the trial. He has said that “sunshine will pierce the cloud of serious allegations.”

The outcome of the hearing could range from dropping all charges to reprimand to expulsion from the House of Representatives.

Video: Rep. Rangel addresses ethics charges

Video: Rangel: ‘I look forward to responding’

As a result of his 2002 corruption trial, former Rep. James Traficant, an Ohio Democrat, became the second member of Congress to be kicked out since the Civil War.

Charles Tiefer, a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law, said Traficant’s case “hardly even counts as a serious precedent.”

At the time of his ethics hearing, Traficant already had been convicted of taking bribes and other charges in a court of law. He spent seven years in prison and was released last year.

“A trial, particularly of a senior congressman, on charges that have been headline news, would be one of the most striking committee proceedings the House can have,” said Tiefer, who was solicitor and deputy general counsel of the House for 11 years.

Rangel temporarily stepped down as Ways and Means Committee chairman following the announcement of an ethics investigation of several allegations, including failure to pay taxes on a home in the Dominican Republic.

The congressman has also admitted a failure to report several hundred thousand dollars in assets on federal disclosure forms. In addition, he is under scrutiny for the purported misuse of a rent-controlled apartment for political purposes, as well as for allegedly preserving tax benefits for an oil-drilling company in exchange for donations to a project he supported at the City College of New York.

The House ethics committee previously admonished Rangel for violating rules on receiving gifts. Specifically, the committee found that Rangel violated House gift rules by accepting reimbursement payments for travel to conferences in the Caribbean in 2007 and 2008.

Should Rangel face a trial, it would play out in what Walker described as a cross between a courtroom trial and a congressional hearing.

Both sides would deliver opening statements and present their cases. They could also call witnesses, who could be cross-examined by the other side.

In a public hearing, there is more leeway given to the committee in terms of admissibility of evidence, Walker said.

Following the evidentiary part of the process, there would be closing arguments, and the case would go back to the jury.

In a House ethics trial, the “jury” is made up of an eight-member adjudicatory subcommittee whose members are allowed to question witnesses.

The subcommittee that would consider Rangel’s case comprises four Democrats and four Republicans, according to the ethics committee document.

It said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-California, is the panel’s chair. Other Democratic members are Reps. G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina, Kathy Castor of Florida and Peter Welch of Vermont. The four Republicans are Reps. Michael McCaul of Texas, Mike Conaway of Texas, Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania and Gregg Harper of Mississippi.

The jury then would have to determine whether each charge was proven by the standard of “clear and convincing evidence.”

“That is less than ‘proof beyond a reasonable a doubt,’ which would be the standard at a criminal trial, but it’s more than the standard of just ‘preponderance of the evidence, which would be the standard at a civil trial,” Walker said.

Despite the outcome, the trial phase could be detrimental to Rangel, Tiefer said.

“It hurts his public image to parade a sequence of witnesses who testify that he is guilty of receiving favors and so forth, and it also arguably hurts the image of those connected with him in his party delegation,” he said.

If he adequately disputes the facts, he could persuade the committee to moderate or even drop all of the charges, Tiefer added.

The whole matter could be dismissed with no further action if the subcommittee decides that no wrongdoing was proven, but if members decide punishment is warranted, they would then have to decide whether to sanction Rangel.

“If they determine that it was a technical violation, the committee could then issue what’s called a letter of reproval, which is not an actual sanction,” Walker said.

If the committee decides more serious punishment is in order, such as reprimand, censure or expulsion, the full House must vote on the issue.

A simple majority vote is required to reprimand or censure a member of Congress, while a two-thirds majority is required for an expulsion.

The House has expelled only five members of Congress. A number of members, however, have resigned before the House took formal action, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Rangel has served 20 consecutive terms in the House. He’s facing a September 14 Democratic contest with Adam Clayton Powell IV, the son of the late scandal-plagued congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr., who was ousted by Rangel 40 years ago.

Rangel’s other primary challengers include banker Vince Morgan, liberal activist Jonathan Tasini and Joyce Johnson, a field director for President Obama’s 2008 campaign.

Rangel said last week that he hoped the matter could be concluded in time for the September contest.

CNN’s Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report.

How Rangel’s ethics hearing could play out

Washington (CNN) — Former Vice President Dick Cheney recently underwent heart surgery and is recovering in a Virginia hospital, said a statement issued by Cheney on Wednesday.

During the operation last week at the Inova Fairfax Heart and Vascular Institute, doctors implanted a small pump that “improves heart function and will enable me to resume an active life,” Cheney’s statement said.

“The operation went very well and I am now recuperating,” the statement said.

Dr. Tim Gardner, former president of the American Heart Association, told CNN that such implants indicate severe heart failure.

“These devices are put in patients whose heart failure is so bad that they need a mechanical pump to keep their circulation going,” said Gardner, who is the medical director of the Center for Heart and Vascular Health at Christiana Care in Wilmington, Delaware.

Gardner was not involved in Cheney’s treatment.

Cheney has a history of heart problems, including five heart attacks dating back to the first one he suffered in 1978 at age 37.

“A few weeks ago, it became clear that I was entering a new phase of the disease when I began to experience increasing congestive heart failure,” Cheney’s statement said. “After a series of recent tests and discussions with my doctors, I decided to take advantage of one of the new technologies available and have a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) implanted.”

Cheney also suffered heart attacks in 1984 and 1988, and underwent a quadruple bypass surgery to unblock his arteries. Shortly after Cheney was elected vice president in November 2000, he had a fourth heart attack and received a stent to open an artery.

In February, Cheney suffered his fifth heart attack.

He was released from a Washington, D.C., hospital on June 28 after suffering from “progressive retention of fluid related to his coronary artery disease,” his office said at the time.

CNN’s Miriam Falco contributed to this report.

Cheney recovering from heart surgery

Washington (CNN) — One of the most famous veterans of the “Greatest Generation” has joined the ranks of recently injured members of the military at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Former Sen. Bob Dole was so badly wounded 65 years ago that he almost didn’t make it off the battlefield. Now, he is recovering from surgery alongside troops injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I’m just sort of one of the group. We show up at 10 o’clock and do our stuff,” Dole said as he pedaled a stationary bike during a morning physical therapy session.

Dole, who turns 87 this month, is at Walter Reed for rehabilitation connected to knee replacement surgery. A bout with pneumonia lengthened his post-op recuperation, so he’s been with the young troops since they arrived from the battlefield.

“I’ve been here long enough to watch when they first came in, and then to see them today. Whether it’s Lee or Chris or Levi, it’s amazing,” Dole said, as he watches Army Spc. Levi Crawford do a step exercise. “He couldn’t stand up on that step yesterday.”

As a veteran-turned-lawmaker, Dole has advocated for the nation’s veterans throughout his career, including serving as co-chair of a 2007 presidential commission that investigated shoddy conditions at Walter Reed, but he has nothing but praise for the medical care he has seen.

He marvels at the stark contrast between treatment today and his own experience in 1945, which left his right arm paralyzed.

“These modern medical miracles, you see them every day here,” he said. “If they’re wounded on one day, they can be in Walter Reed the third day. It took me nine hours to get off a battlefield. It took me weeks to get home.”

Dole sympathizes with Air Force Sgt. Christopher Curtis, 32, who was in dire shape after his CV-22 Osprey crashed in Afghanistan back in April.

“I couldn’t move. I was in a body cast,” Dole said. “That’s all behind me, but it does give you pause. I think about, ‘Jiminy – was I ever in as bad as shape as Chris?’”

Curtis said recovering alongside Dole has inspired him.

“Knowing that I’m going through what (Dole) went through…I’m not in a full body cast or anything like that,” he said. “They’ve basically eliminated that factor and here I am already in rehab (thanks to) surgeries and advanced technologies.”

The servicemembers said that when Dole comes to physical therapy, he always talks to everyone in the room, including family members who are always by their side — just like his mother was there for him 65 years ago.

While opinions about wars may change, Dole said, a family’s support is “one of those values that never changes.”

Everyone welcomes the former senator’s wise-cracking sense of humor.

“He’s a very funny guy, so he keeps everybody around him laughing and in good spirits,” Curtis said.

Dole is even willing to take a few jabs at himself and his failed run for president in 1996.

After Curtis told him he voted for him for president, Dole called him “a smart fella,” then deadpanned, “I finally found somebody that voted for me.”

Dole said he doesn’t dwell on how close he came to becoming president.

“You’ve got to move on, you know. Life’s short you got to keep pushing and realize we live in a great country,” he said. “One chapter ends and another chapter starts. You keep going.”

Army Sgt. Lee Langley, 26, said knowing how much Dole has accomplished after being seriously wounded on the battlefield gives him, and troops with more severe injuries than his, hope.

“It just means that I have all the opportunities in the world,” Langley said. “A lot of people are paralyzed, a lot of people don’t have legs or arms, but they can still have a good life afterwards.”

Surrounded by his young friends at the end of physical therapy, Dole makes a few wisecracks about age with Crawford, Curtis, and Langley like he’s one of the group.

“This is what America is all about, right here,” Dole said, pointing to the young troops.

Dole’s rehab inspires troops

By

Warren Richey,

By

Mark Clayton,

By

Linda Feldmann,

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration has given a green light to the Homeland Security Department to be more competitive and choosey as it hires up to 1,000 new cyber experts over the next three years, the first major personnel move to fulfill its vow to bolster security of the nation’s computer networks.

The announcement follows a wave of cyber attacks on federal agencies, including a July assault that knocked government Web sites off the Internet and earlier intrusions into the country’s electrical grid.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who made the announcement on Thursday, said the hiring plan reflects the Obama administration’s commitment to improving cyber security. The move gives DHS officials far greater flexibility to hire whom they want, outside of more stringent federal guidelines. And it will also allow more latitude in pay.

As a result, Napolitano told an audience of cyber industry professionals, the new rules “will allow us to be competitive with you all” in luring quality applicants.

Much of the funding already has been budgeted, but DHS also is working with Congress for more money. Officials refused to say how much money the program would represent.

The hiring push also underscores the administration’s ongoing struggle to better organize and manage the country’s vulnerable digital defense. President Barack Obama vowed in February to tackle cyber issues, but still has not named a cyber coordinator, a job that experts say will be difficult to fill.

Napolitano said her department does not anticipate filling all 1,000 positions, which will include cyber analysts, developers and engineers who can detect, investigate and deter cyber attacks.

The secretary’s announcement marked the start of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which reflects the White House goal to draw more public attention to the need for everyday computer users to exercise more diligence in protecting their online security.

In other comments, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn said the Pentagon expects to make decisions in the coming weeks on whether to relax restrictions on the use of external computer flash drives and social media Web sites by members of the military and department employees.

The Pentagon banned the use of flash drives last November because of a virus threat officials detected on Defense Department networks.

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On the Net:

National Cybersecurity Awareness Month: http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/gc(underscore)1158611596104.shtm