Days of reckoning: The General Accounting Office has issued a report that is highly critical of the Department of Homeland Security’s handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. DHS, typically, has responded by crying foul and accusing the government oversight organization of not playing nice.

According to GovExec.com, the GAO said DHS exhibited a “leadership vacuum” before, during and after the hurricane.

“In the absence of timely and decisive action and clear leadership responsibility and accountability, there were multiple chains of command, a myriad of approaches and processes for requesting and providing assistance, and confusion about who should be advised of requests and what resources would be provided within specific time frames,” Comptroller General David Walker concluded.

DHS responded quickly to the report, which was issued at a press conference Wednesday.

“Apart from its obvious errors, it displays a significant misunderstanding of core aspects of the Katrina response that could have easily been corrected in the most basic conversations with DHS leaders,” department spokesman Russ Knocke said in a statement.

Methinks DHS protests too much. Remember the truckloads of ice that were “staged” in Maryland? Remember Michael Brown’s concerns over his haberdashery? Remember the dead people?