I don't think anyone was asleep at the wheel. Everybody in DHS and FEMA is doing their jobs. The problems have been caused by inadequate and incomplete emergency plans at the local level and the failure to implement the plans that do exist. Unquestionably, the city of New Orleans should have stockpiled much more food and water in secure areas of high-rise buildings that cannot be flooded, and then deployed police and fire crews to guard and distribute the food and water. An equally huge mistake was the incomplete evacuation plan in which the legal analysis had apparently not been completed, thus delaying declaration of a mandatory evacuation by the mayor. With a good plan and implementation of the plan, the city could have evacuated most of those who don't own cars using city and school buses. That would have greatly reduced the casualties in this flood.
"With a good plan and implementation of the plan, the city could have evacuated most of those who don't own cars using city and school buses. That would have greatly reduced the casualties in this flood."
Agreed - but no excuse for letting in the MSM/Hollywood icons before the Red Cross.