...but still incomplete. It's quite true that FEMA's role is to handle basically routine bureaucratic tasks by supporting preparations before a disaster, and providing aid afterward.

But FEMA is now one component in the DHS. The DHS National Response Plan charges DHS with overall responsibility to create an integrated disaster reponse system to handle operational response as well as administrative needs. This is called NIMS, the National Incident Management Systems, and its key operational element is NIMO, the National Incident Management Office. It's NIMO that is empowered, for example, to call upon the DOD for military assistance, and to call upon the states to activate their National Guard units and supply other assistance. NIMO acts as a central clearinghouse for information, and is supposed to provide early-warning to other agencies based on intelligence (in the case of terrorism), and weather and flood warnings in the case of natural disasters. NIMO exists to coordinate actions across governmental units and to ensure that nothing falls through the cracks. It's where the buck stops.

BTW, according to the NRP, Posse Comitatus and other constraints on Federal action aren't nearly as restrictive as has been claimed. The NRP specifically recognizes the need to take extraordinary action at once and to pick up the legal pieces later.

While it's possible to deflect some of the criticism from FEMA, the ricochet lands squarely on its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security.