Though President Barack Obama was less than a mile away, most residents of Grand Isle, La., never got to see his face. Some barely got to see his car. Led by a convoy of more than 20 police motorbikes and flanked by armored cars, Obama was escorted Friday to a beach in Port Fourchon, La., before riding quickly through the streets of Grand Isle to give a press conference at a Coast Guard station.

A former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, William Reilly, and Bob Graham, a former Florida governor and Democratic U.S. senator, will head the seven-person commission, Obama said.