My complaints may look like I'm giving the locals a pass. I don't have enough respect for the local leadership to even care about the disgracefull way they have conducted themselves, particularly about the preparedness planning.
I have mountains of respect for your analytical abilities and wisdom. You taught me a lot about how to assess difficult situations during those Fallujah days. But saying that the feds "should have the capability and decision making ability to know when the locally driven first response is inadequate" is to ignore the reality that that is not the role of our Federal government. We may as well disband all state authority if we expect the federal government to step in anytime they see the state failing. The Feds have to give the state some time to do its job. And if the state proves incapable, then the feds have to ask to step in. In this case, the Federal government has done just that. Note the difference between the first 3 or 4 days of the disaster with the last 2. But the Federal government is designed to assume the states have at least a minimal ability to perform their role and then aid as appropriate. Just look at Alabama and Mississippi. Two states with solid state and city governments that are well on their way to recovery (Alabama is even sending Guard troops to Louisiana) despite having huge portions of many populated areas wiped off the map. They are working in tandem with the feds, just like they are supposed to, and the work is getting done.