You are right. This is not about turf. But it IS about responsiblity. This may have been more of an obvious case, but many are not. How should we have decided, in advance, how to respond? Should we no longer rely upon local officials, and just take over immediately, ignoring the local assessment of the situation? When do the feds make the call? Government cannot operate by the seat of its pants. Perhaps you could help write the procedure for the feds to use in the future.
The exception does not necessarily make the rule. If history is a guide, Katrina is a once-in-a-lifetime event. That said, there will be a lessons learned review. We need to do a better job of coordinating the various levels of government and there may need to be an acknowledgement that someone has the ultimate authority/responsibility to run things. FEMA may indeed have to be reorganized and taken out of Homeland Security. We need a more streamlined chain of command.
Should we no longer rely upon local officials, and just take over immediately, ignoring the local assessment of the situation?
No, much depends upon the size of the event and local capabilities. We may need an additional assessment outside the local assessment to ensure that it is done professionally, objectively, and on a timely basis.
When do the feds make the call? Government cannot operate by the seat of its pants.
The federal government seldom operates by the seat of its pants. There are rules, procedures, policies, plans, contingency plans, to cover everything it does. Every one is responsible for something, and no one is responsible for anything. I wish the government would operate by the seat of its pants more often and be a little less ossified when it comes to making decisions quickly and adjusting to events. The Feds should be empowered to make the ultimate call and have the authority to carry it out. But those cases should be rare. I am not for taking away local powers, just to neutralize them when you have incompetent clowns like Blanco and Nagin putting millions of lives at risk.
Perhaps you could help write the procedure for the feds to use in the future.
You left the sarcasm tag off. That said, I have no doubt that I could direct such an effort. I headed a successful government-wide interagency effort that won several awards. It was like herding cats, but once everyone felt a sense of shared endeavor and rose above being an agency partisan, we got it done. It took three years from concept to full implementation worldwide.