Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Ridge resigns
His color coded alert system has scard the crap out of the American people since 2002.
Good to know he's gone!
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His color coded alert system has scard the crap out of the American people since 2002.
Good to know he's gone!
"There will always be more to do, but today, America is significantly stronger and safer than ever before," he said in his resignation letter.
Asked what he plans to do, he told a reporter, "I am going to step back a little bit, breathe deeply and then decide."
The former two-term governor of Pennsylvania added that, after 22 years in public service, he plans to get more involved in personal and family matters.
"I am looking forward to going to my son's rugby games," he said.
Ridge, 59, met with President Bush on Tuesday morning before the president headed to Canada. According to one official, he then met with his department's senior staff and told them of his plans to leave.
Ridge is the first secretary of the department, which was created in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. It folded 22 agencies with 180,000 employees into one organization, charged with developing and coordinating a national strategy to protect against terrorist threats or attacks in the United States.
Perhaps his highest-profile move was to oversee the creation of the color-coded threat-warning system. During his time as adviser and secretary, the national threat level was raised from yellow (elevated) to orange (high) and back five times. It is currently at yellow.
Ridge has won praise for tackling what was widely regarded as an exceedingly difficult job. But many outside observers say the department is falling short of delivering what it should and could.
Some outside analysts also felt that Ridge lost a number of important battles and said they were hoping his replacement would be able to get more money and therefore more clout for the department.
"Tom Ridge is a decent man and a fine public servant but unfortunately was not given the leeway or resources to tighten up homeland security in the way it should be done," said Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat. "We hope that whoever the administration chooses to succeed him will be given the tools needed to really do the job."
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