The state is only responsible for what it has the resources to deal with. The Department of Homeland Security, through FEMA, is responible for the rest.

Mayor Nagin issued a statement (jointly with the local president of the Red Cross) back in July, saying that local governments didn't have the resources to evacuate the one to two hundred thousand people who wouldn't be able to evacuate themselves in the event of a catastrophic hurricane. Had DHS called in military assets to help with the evacuation, we might not be having this conversation today.

I have yet to see any convincing proof that the local or state governments turned away any help from the Red Cross in New Orleans. I don't consider the statement in the Red Cross website to be convincing proof. As recently as July of this year, the Red Cross was saying that it would not provide any services to New Orleans, nor allow any of its people to work there, because of the risk.

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Here's what DHS says it's responsible for...


"The Homeland Security Act of 2002 established DHS to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States; reduce the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism, natural disasters, and other emergencies. The act also designates DHS as "a focal point regarding natural and manmade crises and emergency planning".

Pursuant to HSPD-5, the Secretary of Homeland Security is responsible for coordinating Federal operations within the United States to prepare for, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks, major disasters, and other emergencies. HSPD-5 further designates the Secretary of Homeland Security as the "principal Federal official" for domestic incident management.

In this role, the Secretary is also responsible for coordinating Federal resources utilized in response to or recovery from terrorist attacks, major disasters, or other emergencies if and when any of the following four conditions applies:

(2) the resources of State and local authorities are overwhelmed and Federal assistance has been requested;

(4) the Secretary has been directed to assume incident management responsibilities by the President."

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Also this from DHS...

Emergencies & Disasters

Planning & Prevention

National Response Plan: Prevention, Preparedness, Response & Maintenance

Response

"The National Response Plan provides the policies and processes for coordinating Federal support activities that address the short-term, direct effects of an incident. These activities include immediate actions to preserve life, property, and the environment; meet basic human needs; and maintain the social, economic, and political structure of the affected community"

http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/editorial/editorial_0570.xml

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Condition number 2 had already kicked in when Governor Blanco requested the declaration of the state of emergency. In her request, she stated that the the resources of the state and local authorities had been overwhelmed, and she requested federal assistance. As soon as the president declared the state of emergency, the federal government was reponsible for providing any help that the local governments were not able to provide.