Watch Now: Former Gov. and US Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge 9/18/2009

To see the full interview with Tom Ridge check out Smart Talk tonight @ 8:30p on WITF TV.

Re-broadcasted on WITF TV Saturday 9/19 @ 4p / Sunday 9/20 @ Noon & 7:30p

In August 2001, I resigned as Deputy Director of Communications to Gov. Ridge in order to host Smart Talk on WITF-TV. Just one week after I started my new job, America was attacked. We secured a live statewide interview with Gov. Ridge the night after the terrorist attacks. In his new book, Gov. Ridge explores the enormity of the challenges he, the administration and the country faced as we battled a cruel and unforgiving enemy … Islamic radicalism. “Everyone wanted me to be the guy who could make America safe and, perhaps in the process, hand over a gift box that contained the head of Osama bin Laden,” Ridge writes.

Early on in the text, he cites an excerpt from that September 12, 2001 Smart Talk broadcast in which a young boy asked him whether we would “nuke” bin Laden. We have a link to the entire Sept. 12, 2001 program.

Watch Then: Gov. Tom Ridge on Smart Talk, September 12, 2001:

Parts 2 and 3 of the program can be found at the end of this article

It is fascinating to watch Ridge’s responses to this question and many others – especially now, through the prism of all that our nation has endured over the last eight years including two wars and a host of natural disasters, the most devastating of which was Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Gov. Ridge details in the book his own steep learning curve when it came to understanding Al Qaeda and counter-terrorism. And he notes in great detail the Herculean task of combining 180,000 federal employees from 22 agencies into one seamless new Department of Homeland Security, devising a system to alert Americans to the level of threat they face on a daily basis, and getting international and domestic intelligence agencies to share crucial information.

We’d like to think that folks working at every level of local, state and federal government operate in concert especially when it comes to national defense. Sadly, as Ridge enumerates, time and time again, that is simply not the case. Ridge claims he often battled a “culture of secrecy” that puts our security at risk. “I believe the greatest fear in dealing with this new enemy is the fear of the unknown. An informed public is an engaged public and a good investment in the security of the community and country. And informing the public required a new way of thinking and communicating, and, I believed, now was the time to take up the task. Traditional Washington did not share this point of view,” he writes.

Much controversy has erupted over an excerpt from the book (one that his publisher and the media hyped) in which Ridge speculates about the motivations of Bush’s staff in arguing to raise the threat-alert level just before the 2004 presidential election. Osama bin Laden had issued a new videotape just four days before the voting. Ridge recalls that his DHS team agreed "that the tape should not alter our security posture." However, as they gathered that day for a secure videoconference with representatives from the intelligence community, the FBI and the Departments of Justice, State, and Defense, Ridge recounts, "... a vigorous, some might say dramatic, discussion ensued. (Attorney General John) Aschcroft strongly urged an increase in the threat level, and was supported by (Defense Secretary Donald) Rumsfeld. There was absolutely no support for that position within our department. None. I wondered, "Is this about security or politics?" Post-election analysis demonstrated a significant increase in the president's approval rating in the days after the raising of the threat level. There was no consensus reached at that session, and we took it upon ourselves to keep it that way. I was adamantly opposed to raising the threat level and was grateful that (FBI Director) Robert Mueller agreed. Absent a consensus, there could be no recommendation for (Homeland Security Advisor Frances) Townsend to present to the president."

Since the controversy over that excerpt erupted, Ridge likes to point out in interviews that on page 114 he writes, "Let me make it very clear. I was never directed to do so (raise the threat level for political gain) no matter how many analysts, pundits, or critics say so. Secondly, the threat advisory system approved in 2002 created a system that included cabinet members whose consensus drove the recommendation. No one, not even the president, can unilaterally alter the threat level." So one wonders, why did Ridge speculate (and italicize) in his book his musings about the motivations of the president's staff in making higher threat-level recommendations prior to the November 2004 election? I intend to ask him that question.

Throughout the memoir Ridge discusses the dangerous intersection of politics and terrorism. He also cautions that while he supported enactment of the Patriot Act he fears efforts to overstep and trample upon individual liberties. He quotes one of my favorite Benjamin Franklin musings to make his point, “Those that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

Ridge opines, “I continue to worry about growing public complacency which is as dangerous as it is false. I have a certain wariness that as we move father in time from the mindset of 9/11 we will have lost our edge, and not be prepared psychologically or physically should disaster happen.”

If you have a question or comment for Gov. Ridge, send it along to us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

We’ll also check in with state and local government leaders and community activists to gauge Pennsylvania’s preparedness post- 9/11 and post-Katrina. Among our guests will be Jeff Thomas, deputy director of administration for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. PEMA offers a fairly thorough website you can access to find out how to prepare your family for most man-made and natural disasters. Log onto www.readyPA.org. And Dave Sanko,Executive Director-elect of the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors, also will join us. Sanko, former chief of staff to Gov. Mark Schweiker, served as PEMA director under Gov. Ed Rendell then left in 2005 to become chief operating officer of Bucks County, PA. We'll talk about the lessons learned for first responders, elected officials and the community in the aftermath of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and Pennsylvania's I-78 snowstorm-related traffic debacle in February 2007. Please join us Friday night at 8:30.

Book Preview:

Read chapters 13 & 14 from Tom Ridge's book The Test of Our Times.

Chapter 13 -- FEMA and the Gathering Storm

Chapter 14 -- The Politics of Terrorism, Part Two

Smart Talk Special Edition: Terror Hits Home PART 2 Original air date (9/12/01)

Smart Talk Special Edition: Terror Hits Home PART 3 Original airdate (9/12/01)