Whither Fema? Hurricane Katrina and FEMA's Response to the Gulf Coast

The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 placed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) directly in the public spotlight. The agency came under tremendous criticism for its response, and its director resigned shortly after the hurricane. This article identifies and develops four themes (organizational location, organizational leadership, organizational emphasis, and federalism) drawn from the general literature in public administration and emergency management to provide a framework with which to analyze FEMA's post-Katrina responses and to place criticisms of the agency into a broader context.