The problem with your top down management system is that everyone waits until the top guy decides what to do. In a confused situation it can take an ice age for all the relevant info to make it to the decision point. This is what top down militaries get their @$$es handed to them by ones that enable competent juniors to make decisions. There should be a team dedicated to these situations that acts on its own without having to wait forever for some cowardly bureaucrat who spends forever worrying whether his decision will impact his career.