Powell: Gov't Must Use 'Decisive Force'

In an exclusive interview with ABC News, former Secretary of State Colin Powell shared his advice for how the Obama administration should tackle the Gulf disaster. Though the federal government has been monitoring the oil spill from the start, public perception is otherwise, Powell said. “That impression was not conveyed to the American people,” he said. He also noted that President Obama and the country would have been “better served” if the president had given the type of “comprehensive” speech he gave this past week much earlier. Going forward, the federal government “has to move quickly and move with—to use my favorite expression—decisive force,” he said, calling for “a comprehensive, total attack on this problem.”