I can see Chertoff not wanting to spend his time in front of a Congressional committee when he has a disaster cleanup to manage.

But he saw fit to go on national TV and radio and give horrible misinformation ("convention center? I don't think anyone is trapped there") during the midst of the crisis, so I'm not so sure how hands-on he is.

The divided authority issue cuts very deep, and it's something I noticed while working in state government. Basically, you need about ten people to agree in order to get anything done in terms of natural disasater funding, and I can only imagine what the maze is when you're dealing with national guard troops elsewhere in the country. At its best, the homeland security department would be a central command center where efforts could be coordinated quickly; at its worst (and I think we can agree that this experience falls into the "worst" category), it's a black hole where information goes in and disappears, and nothing comes out. No one has full information and every agency involved is left to fend for itself, only to guess as to what will happen next. Maybe with a bit of time we'll learn more about what exactly happened.