The DHS National Response Plan describes in great detail the relationships between all levels of government during all kinds of large-scale disasters. The general doctrine is that the most-local levels of governments should be the first to act, and to call upon higher levels of government when they need assistance.

However, the document also makes clear that bureaucracy should never be allowed to stand in the way of necessary response. It says that if a local government is overwhelmed, or appears about to be overwhelmed, a higher level of government is obligated to step in immediately without waiting for a formal request for help.

The picture is emerging that New Orleans especially, and Louisiana in general, lacked the resources to handle a disaster of this magnitude and could be expected with certainty to be overwhelmed early. "In the event of a major hurricane, you're on your own" is a historically-blunt warning not only to the residents of the city, but to state and Federal officials as well. It's hard to fathom the claims now that those higher levels were taken by surprise that the New Orleans effort was weak and collapsed almost at the moment that the hurricane hit. It seems that everyone else knew what would happen.

The fingers are pointing both up and down the emergency-response chain of command. It helps to understand how that hierarchy was supposed to work, to be able to sensibly examine how it actually worked. The National Reponse Plan commendably articulates that "the buck stops here" at the Federal level. I find it a bit unseemly for the 900 pound gorilla to be criticizing the 90 pound starveling chimpanzee for being unable to hold his own.