coast guard commandant here in the studio. thad allen, welcome. let's start with the spill cam, it was always up there 24/7, pulsating. did those images accomplish anything? >> first of all, i thought it created transparency on the response. early on there were issues whether or not bp was releasing the video. we had a long conversation. we knew it was inevitable this stuff had to be seen by the public. we made it the policy we would be releasing it. also that video was the only information we had what was going on down at the flow and was used to analyze the flow rate. >> this is a story that was very much driven by pictures. you were briefing virtually every day at the white house, in the gulf. what's the administration doing, is the president mad, is the president outraged, but a lot of the cleanup was led by bp. >> that's correct. under our current rlaws, the responsibility party is supposed