Well Robert, we do have the benefit of past experience with severe hurricanes. We know food, shelter and water will be needed. We know that the power will be out. We know that there will be severe flooding. And, in the case of New Orleans, we know for certain those levees couldn't stand against a category four or five hurricane. And given the size and ferocity of Katrina as she crept toward the Gulf coast, it would be a relatively straightforward task to predict the size and severity of the area and population to be affected.

Ordinarily, emergency management works from the grass roots up. As local governments are overwhelmed by a disaster, state goverments engage to help. As state governments are overwhelmed, the federal government engages. In this case, it was obvious that Katrina was going to be a multi-state catastrophy affecting millions of people. We know for certain that conventional housing and infrastructure cannot stand against 150 mph winds. It was clear days before she struck shore, that local and state resources would be overwhelmed and federal involvement would be necessary.

The beauty of a hurricane is that you know its coming. An earthquake, in contrast, strikes without warning. And knowing Katrina was on its way, the feds should have made certain that its national incident management system was activated. Decisions between local, state and federal officials about command and control protocols should have been made before she struck. Troops and other aid workers should have been deployed to safe and secure locations ahead of time. Emergency supplies sand equipment needs should have been identified and assembled for distribution. Coordination with major non-profit social service organizations should have commenced.

And just as important is the presence of leadership. On 9/11 Rudy Guilliani and President Bush were fully engaged and established clearly defined roles and responsibilities. Rudy took care of New York and Bush took care of Al Qaeda. Not so with Katrina. In a natural disaster of these proportions, its the President's job to be actively engaged - to make certain that the public's safety and well-being is paramount to his prioirities. Disasters don't call for hands-off, delegated leadership. They require leaders to be physically present and available to emergency operations centers so that accurate information can be shared quickly so policy decisions about the response strategy and operations can be made at the very moment they are needed.

There's a reason why its called "emergency management." Its because responding to a disaster is all about management. In the case of Katrina there was none. None whatsoever.