http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/03/AR2005090301653.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/national/nationalspecial/02response.html
And articles on the finger-pointing:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/national/nationalspecial/05blame.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/04/AR2005090401337.html
As well as a link I posted in another thread
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/03/katrina.chertoff/
By the way, it is perfectly clear that Joe Allbaugh, FEMA head from 2/01 to 3/03, got the job via political patronage (Bush campaign manager in 2000 and in gubernatorial race, no disaster management/emergency response experience at all). So did current FEMA head Michael Brown (Allbaugh's college roommate, lawyer whose prior experience was as Judges and Stewards Commissioner for the International Arabian Horses Association, also no experience at all in disaster/emergency response.) I really have no idea why FEMA isn't run by someone with some relevant experience, e.g. police or military or emergency services.
Brown has really been putting his foot in his mouth - e.g on 9/1 he was upbeat about the relief effort (things going "relatively well"), blaming the victims, and saying he had to be careful about getting rescue personnel to the city earlier ("Otherwise, we would have faced an even higher death toll").
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/01/katrina.fema.brown/ But firing people is viewed as an admission of failure by the current Administration, so Brown's job is probably safe.