Your assumption would be correct, and that applies to just about every gov't agency/Dept. The problems and stumbling blocks tend to come from management. I could cite one that I encountered here in Dallas in the first few days after Katrina hit. While it would have made a specific person's field efforts easier, it did not affect our or his overall response.

>And I like to think that there were many, many employees of FEMA who attempted to do right, but were stymied in their efforts by management.
>
>>Not all agencies responded poorly. The response we provided (EPA Region 6 in Dallas, other Regions provided massive support to us as well) was a notable exception. The Drinking Water initial responders are all people I know and work with. We had the advantage of only being a very short drive away. I was part of the response effort as well, but I was not deployed until the middle of January for 4 weeks. I worked the northern shore of Pontchartrain (sp?) during that time.
>>
>>http://www.epa.gov/oig/reports/2006/20060914-2006-P-00033.pdf
>>
>>Also, we have not been sitting idle this year either. The next response by us will be even better based on the prep work we have done since this Spring.