Senator Clinton yesterday blamed the Bush Administration for “massive failures” in the response to Hurricane Katrina and suggested that disaster relief would have come much sooner if the killer storm had struck while her husband was president.

“Certainly, there was nobody in charge at the federal government and there was nobody willing to take responsibility to work with state and local officials,” Mrs. Clinton said as she proposed legislation that would create an independent commission to investigate why government officials were caught flat-footed by the devastating hurricane. “I think we owe the American people answers,” she said.

The bill Mrs. Clinton introduced would also remove the Federal Emergency Management Agency from the Department of Homeland Security, restoring the disaster relief agency to the independent, Cabinet-level status it had before being merged into the department in 2003.

During a 20-minute conference call with reporters, Mrs. Clinton made at least five statements contrasting the Bush administration’s approach to disaster aid with that pursued by President Clinton. The senator argued that Mr. Bush was giving short shrift to federal efforts by relying too heavily on charities and local governments.

“During the Clinton administration, the government took the lead on disasters that were of significance,” Mrs. Clinton said. “That philosophy, which governed FEMA during the Clinton administration, was obviously rejected by this administration and they do believe that people should rely on state and local response and on private charities. I think that is a recipe for disaster.”

Mrs. Clinton, who traveled to Houston on Monday along with her husband to visit with people displaced by the hurricane, expressed irritation yesterday as she responded to an administration official’s suggestion that the country is well prepared to respond to a terrorist attack. “That’s absurd on its face,” she said, dismissing claims that the widespread devastation from the storm is unlike anything terrorists could muster. “Just the fact that we have had a large area impacted could very well have happened with a chemical, radiological, or biological attack. Obviously, many of us have been saying for some time that there is no plan, there is no overall strategy. … It’s beyond my understanding.”

White House officials had no direct response to Mrs. Clinton’s call for a commission to examine the disaster response. However, Mr. Bush, who publicly deemed the early effort “not acceptable,” said during a meeting with his cabinet yesterday that he will investigate the missteps. “What I intend to do is lead … an investigation to find out what went right and wrong,” the president said. “I’ll tell you why: It’s very important for us to understand the relationship between the federal government, the state government, and the local government when it comes to a major catastrophe.”

Mrs. Clinton seemed to bristle with anger when told that Mr. Bush said he planned to head up an inquiry into the government’s slow reaction to the hurricane. “I don’t believe the government should investigate itself,” she said in response to a question from The New York Sun. “Unfortunately, this administration has a long record of not holding anybody accountable for anything. The only people who have ever been dismissed from this government are people who told the truth about uncomfortable matters, like General Shinseki, or Larry Lindsey, or Paul O’Neill.”

Mrs. Clinton said the independent probe she has proposed, modeled on that conducted into the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, could be completed in six to nine months. The early debate over the proposal for an outside investigation seem to mirror that over the September 11 commission, which the administration opposed but later grudgingly accepted under congressional pressure.

Mrs. Clinton’s proposal for a commission has been embraced by the Senate minority leader, Senator Reid of Nevada, but may face resistance from other lawmakers who want Congressional committees to assess responsibility for the sluggish response to the storm.

During a contentious briefing yesterday, the White House press secretary, Scott McClellan, offered little insight about how Mr. Bush planned to investigate the reaction to Hurricane Katrina. “Right now, we’ve got to stay focused on the immediate priorities and the long-term response efforts that are underway,” Mr. McClellan said.

Mr. Bush brushed aside a question about whether he would dismiss officials involved in the relief effort, such as the undersecretary for emergency preparedness and response, Michael Brown.

Mrs. Clinton appeared to join those calling for the firing of Mr. Brown, an attorney who had no experience in disaster relief before joining the administration. “If we went back to the way we did it in the ’90s, if we required that whoever was in charge of FEMA was somebody who actually knew something about responding to emergencies and disasters-today the president could do that. I mean today he could make those changes and I would hope he does because we don’t know what’s around the corner and waiting to happen to us,” she said.

The transformation of the lead federal relief agency, FEMA, under the Clinton administration won widespread praise. A study released in 2000 by a conservative think tank, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, cited FEMA’s overhaul as a model for other government agencies. The agency’s director, James Lee Witt, deserved much of the credit, the study concluded.

Before he came to Washington, Mr. Witt had four years experience as head of disaster relief for the state of Arkansas. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco recently asked Mr. Witt to help oversee her state’s recovery efforts.