Show me a map, pose a problem, give me time limit... I picked two fair-sized cities, of which at least one was within reasonable transport time of pretty much anywhere along the Texas Gulf, far enough back so that the storm would be weakening as they drove into it.

Were you not expecting a straight-forward response?

Perhaps you missed my post of a few days ago (could be as much as a week), wherein I suggested "forward basing", as in Germany during the Cold War. My premise was simple enough to re-tell here, rather than wasting the time searcing for the link:

-- Hurricane season is predictable.

-- The regions most commonly afflicted by hurricanes are also predictable.

-- Landfall predictions for approaching individual storms are becoming more reliable year by year. You posed your question yesterday, just a bit before noon (my time), at which time landfall was 60 hours away. (By the way, that link shows a different image now, damnit)

Ever seen National Guard and/or Reserve units in convoy on their way to their annual active duty? Do you remember what the Interstate Highway system was built for? Perhaps it would give us a running start to preferentially man bases in the Southeast and Gulf states during the months of June to November as part of a coordinated national strategy. Perhaps those units could be wieghted in favor of medical, transport, military police, combat engineers, and amphibious assault.

Let me turn your hypothetical around:

Say you're the Commander in Chief of the US Armed Forces, as well as the guy your country expects to do right by them when the fewmets hit the windmill. You've spent four years, and your entire political capital, bragging about how much safer your citizens are because of actions you've taken.

Do you continue to run your country by reacting to everything? Or do you begin to anticipate?

Funny thing about Homeland Security: our homeland is in North America, not southwest Asia...