[Infowarrior] - Ridge backpedals on pressure to raise terror alert level

[Richard Forno]

Believe what you like.  Politics is politics.....semantics are  
semantics......conspiracy theories abound everywhere.    --rf


> http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-08-30-tom-ridge_N.htm
>
> Ridge backpedals on pressure to raise terror alert level
>
> By Mimi Hall, USA TODAY
> WASHINGTON — Former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge, speaking  
> for the first time about accusations made in his new book, says he  
> did not mean to suggest that other top Bush administration officials  
> were playing politics with the nation's security before the 2004  
> presidential election.
>
> "I'm not second-guessing my colleagues," Ridge said in an interview  
> about The Test of Our Times, which comes out Tuesday and recounts  
> his experiences as head of the nation's homeland security efforts in  
> the first several years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
>
> In the book, Ridge portrays his fledgling department as playing  
> second fiddle to other Cabinet-level heavyweights. As secretary, he  
> says he was never invited to participate in National Security  
> Council meetings, he was left out of the information loop by the FBI  
> and his proposal to establish Homeland Security offices in major  
> cities such as New Orleans were rejected.
>
> His most explosive accusation: that Secretary of Defense Donald  
> Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft pressed him to raise the  
> national threat level after Osama bin Laden released a videotape  
> criticizing President Bush shortly before Election Day 2004. Ridge  
> writes he rejected raising the level because bin Laden had released  
> nearly 20 such tapes since 9/11 and the latest contained nothing  
> suggesting an imminent threat.
>
> Noting that Bush's approval ratings typically went up when the  
> threat level was raised, Ridge writes that Ashcroft and Rumsfeld  
> pushed to elevate it during a "vigorous" discussion.
>
> "Ashcroft strongly urged an increase in the threat level, and was  
> supported by Rumsfeld," he writes. "There was absolutely no support  
> for that position within our department. None. I wondered, 'Is this  
> about security or politics?' "
>
> Although he prevailed and the threat level was not elevated, Ridge  
> writes that the episode reinforced his decision to resign. He did so  
> weeks after the election.
>
> Last week, when word got out about Ridge's accusations, Rumsfeld's  
> spokesman Keith Urbahn issued a statement calling them "nonsense."
>
> Now, Ridge says he did not mean to suggest he was pressured to raise  
> the threat level, and he is not accusing anyone of trying to boost  
> Bush in the polls. "I was never pressured," Ridge said.
>
> The former secretary and Pennsylvania governor, who now heads a  
> security consulting firm called Ridge Global, also said in the  
> interview that:
>
> • He and his immediate successor, Michael Chertoff, recently were  
> asked to speak with a panel considering changes to the color-coded  
> threat advisory system for new Homeland Security Secretary Janet  
> Napolitano.
>
> • He is "dumbfounded" that the government still has no way to track  
> foreign visitors who don't leave the country when their visas  
> expire, noting that two of the 9/11 hijackers were in the country on  
> expired visas.
>
> • Government officials and members of Congress rarely discuss  
> homeland security issues and have "lost the sense of urgency" about  
> protecting the nation from terrorist attacks. Because of the economy  
> and growing budget deficits, he also is worried about funding for  
> future efforts to tighten security.
>
>