Blame Game Intensifies

The slow response to the disaster left behind by Hurricane Katrina has raised many serious questions about our nation's ability to deal with major catastrophes and terror attacks.

As CBS News correspondent Thalia Assuras reports on The Early Show, there's no answer to the critical question of who's at fault, but plenty of possibilities.

She says the blame game is being played by everyone from political leaders to emergency response agencies to individuals. The questions have been building for days.

One evacuee complained last week, "(I have a) 3-week-old baby out here. They don't have no formula, no diapers. And they want us to survive out here. Where's FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency)? Where's the mayor?"

Cries of anguish and anger cascaded. A 12-year-old girl exclaimed, "We are gonna die out here if they don't send somebody out here right now!"

New Orleans Times-Picayune Editor Jim Amoss typified the frustration and finger pointing that abound, asserting, "The top officials at FEMA should be fired."

Massive breakdowns led to the slow, stumbling response, Assuras points out. State and local officials are blaming Washington, and vice versa.

But former FEMA Chief of Staff Jane Bullock says the entire system is broken: "This is a systemic problem that goes from the very top to the very bottom."

Bullock says that part of the problem is that after Sept. 11, the Department of Homeland Security absorbed FEMA, diminishing its power and changing it priorities.

And, says Bullock, no one at the top of either agency is up to the task: "At the federal level, unfortunately, we have leadership that has no experience with emergency management, and a disaster, even a small one, is a logistical nightmare."

Analysts point to a litany of additional problems, Assuras says. Among them: a federal focus on terrorism threats above all others; a lack of money to maintain the New Orleans levees; even the reticence and inability of some of its residents to evacuate when asked.

"I think he ultimately bears responsibility for it," Bullock says.

Many wonder whether President Bush will demand top-level resignations.

But perhaps the most telling question is whether the country is prepared for the next "big one."

"This is the biggest disaster we have seen in our history," says Institute for Homeland Security Director Randy Larsen, "but it's nothing compared to what a nuclear weapon would be or a large-scale radiological attack or a large-scale chemical attack on a city. So, four years after 9/11, are we better prepared?"

You can be sure, Assuras says, that all those questions are going to be asked for months to come.

A Senate investigation is being launched. There are demands that the House establish a task force to examine what happened. And don't be surprised if a federal commission is established, Assuras says.

But some observers say this isn't the time for all those questions, and that rescue and recovery work have to come first.