U.S. & World

WASHINGTON (CBS) ― Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff or a deputy should have been "the central focal point" of the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina, congressional investigators asserted Wednesday, saying the lack of a clear chain of command hindered relief efforts.

The Government Accountability Office also found that the government still lacks sufficient plans and training programs to prepare for catastrophic disasters like the Aug. 29 storm that devastated much of the Gulf Coast area.

The GAO report said that neither Chertoff nor any of his designated officials served as an overall coordinator of the response to the storm, "which serves to underscore the immaturity of and weaknesses relating to the current national response framework."

The GAO report, presented to a special House investigation committee, marks the first congressional conclusions about the much-criticized federal response to Katrina. The GAO is Congress' investigative arm.

"We continue to believe that a single individual directly responsible to the president must be designated to act as the central focal point to lead and coordinate the overall federal response in the event of a major catastrophe," the preliminary report found.

Because of the internal confusion, federal officials were indecisive and slow to realize Katrina was a catastrophic disaster, the report found. It noted that Chertoff failed to declare Katrina an "incident of national significance" until the night of Aug. 30, a full day after the storm hit, which would have triggered a faster response.

"As a result, the federal response generally was to wait for the affected states to request assistance," the report found.

The report served as a stinging slap to the Homeland Security Department, which oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It also criticized the National Response Plan, issued last year by Homeland Security, as confusing to other federal agencies that are responsible for helping the response.

"We observed an incomplete understanding of roles and responsibilities under the NRP lead to misunderstandings, problems and delays, and area that training might be able to correct," the report found.

The GAO report comes as the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hold hearings at which New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is testifying. "We were in the most desperate need for assistance," Nagin said during an opening statement at the hearings. Maine Republican Susan Collins, chair of the Senate committee, opened the hearing with a question to Nagin about New Orleans' response to nursing home evacuations.

According to documents released on the eve of the hearings, on Tuesday, Nagin opened the city's convention center to evacuees from seeking shelter Hurricane Katrina's destruction without ensuring that food and water would be available.

In a Jan. 10 interview, Senate investigators asked Mayor Ray Nagin's spokeswoman, Sally Forman, about preparations for food, water and security in the convention center, according to a transcript released Tuesday.

"We were asking for provisions, but we didn't have provisions. But we knew with the number of people walking the streets in the city that we clearly had to provide shelter," Forman said.

Forman said Nagin and the New Orleans police chief made the decision to open the center on Tuesday, Aug. 30, as evacuees began gathering there a day after Katrina hit. Food and water arrived three days later, on Friday, Sept. 2, delivered by National Guard troops.

In an interview Tuesday, New Orleans Homeland Security Director Terry Ebbert said the city asked Federal Emergency Management Agency officials for food, water and other supplies daily as evacuees began gathering in the convention center.

"We were making a constant request, and they didn't get the supplies here," Ebbert said. He noted that whatever food and water was available was spread thin, as it was distributed to the Superdome, a covered sports arena in downtown New Orleans; to high-rise apartment houses; and to other places where evacuees gathered.

Officials evacuated the convention center within six hours on Saturday, Sept. 3, Ebbert said. The Superdome was emptied a day earlier, he said.

A FEMA spokeswoman said she did not know when the agency was alerted that the convention center had been opened, or that food and water was needed there.

In a Sept. 1 interview, then-FEMA Director Michael Brown said he was unaware of the dire conditions at the center, noting that the New Orleans Superdome was supposed to be the last-resort shelter for evacuees. Brown, who left FEMA in Katrina's aftermath, later said he had learned about the convention center situation a day earlier, and misspoke because he was tired.

(© 2006 CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)