WRONG!! It is the responsibility of the LOCAL authorities to make sure that people get out of town. Sine the local folks abrogated their responsibility, it fell to the National Guard, and now the US Military. Chertoff is Head of Homeland Security, so has an administrative responsibility to get people to the scene. He should NOT be micro-managing anything. That just makes the job harder for the people on the ground. Same thing with Michael Brown. The head of FEMA has the responsiblity of getting the men and materials to the scene. How it is distributed is up to the people on the ground. FEMA only goes where it is told by the local authorities.
This does not absolve Chertoff.