The Corps of Engineers is no where near as ready as they claim. The claim before Katrina was that they could handle a Category 3. Katrina hit New Orleans as a Category 3 with the brunt of the storm hitting Mississippi.
The Corps claimed again now they were really ready to handle a Category 3 yet a Category 2 came ashore 60 miles west of New Orleans and the city barely avoided being flooded. Obviously federal, state, and local governments did much better this time in general, but the Corps, as it historically has, is making crap up about how ready they are.