The NG is under State direction, not Federal. She can have mutual assistance agreements with other states without the Feds even being involved. The Feds can Federalize the State NG if she ASKS or is in definace of Fed Authority. When Bush went down there, he offered her immediate deployment of reg US Military. She said she "needed 24 hours"to decide, she said THAT in front of Nagin. Don't get sucked in the AP media propaganda nonsense about the NG being under Fed command. They were not. They were, and are, under Blanco's orders. She is still refusing to turn control over NO to the Feds as of right now.
Thanks for the distinction. (I plead ignorance on the local, state and federal relationships around an emergency.) My question is: Why was she so hesitant to request help when it most certainly would have been customary and sensible to do so? Could it have been an underlying, universally liberal antipathy toward anyone in uniform with a weapon?