Ridge defends threat advisory system

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge Monday defended the color-coded national terrorism-alert system, which has come under increasing criticism for being too vague to be effective.

While the Homeland Security Department will continue to improve the threat advisory system, in general "it's a good system," Ridge said Monday during a speech to the summer meeting of the National Governors' Association held in Indianapolis.

"It is a system designed-and I think it's worked fairly well-to, one, alert the public generally that it is a consensus opinion within the president's Homeland Security Council … that the level of threat has either gone up or has receded," Ridge said.

Last week, the Congressional Research Service released a report concluding that the threat advisory system is too vague on the nature of the potential terrorist threat, leading to concerns that the public may disregard the warnings. The report also said that, when the threat level was raised, only general intelligence information with a lack of specifics was cited as the cause. In addition, Democrats on the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee last week also issued a report claiming that the threat advisory system needed to be revised to provide more specific information.

In his remarks Monday, Ridge acknowledged that some governors had expressed frustration with the general nature of the warnings issued through the threat advisory system. The system is flexible enough, however, to allow for the issuing of specific threat advisories to states or localities if such intelligence were received, he said.

"I assure you, when the information is specific enough to warrant a warning being limited to a particular area, we will do that," Ridge told the assembled governors.

Ridge Monday also called on governors to identify five additional officials in each of their states who will be able to receive security clearances giving them access to classified homeland security-related information. If any of the five identified officials have already received a security clearance through another U.S. agency, such as the FBI or CIA, then that will be satisfactory for Homeland Security, he said. In addition, the Homeland Security Department is also planning to develop a secure Web site to allow state homeland security officials to share information on best practices, Ridge said.

"Sharing information … is at the heart of what we need to do as a country," Ridge said.

In addition to improving information-sharing, the Homeland Security Department also plans to work with state homeland security advisers to determine what permanent security measures can be implemented at 150 high-level targets throughout the country that were identified during Operation Liberty Shield, Ridge said. He also said the department plans to work with state officials within the next six months to identify and improve security at a second-tier of 180 sites.

Funding

Ridge said he expected Congress to appropriate $3.5 billion in the fiscal 2004 budget for homeland security-related funding to state and local officials. To help those officials receive such funding, the Homeland Security Department plans to create by the end of the year a "one-stop shop" to aid in applying for federal grants, he said.

The New York Times reported Tuesday, however, that some governors were still concerned about a lack of needed homeland security funding.

"There is always an issue of resources' not meeting expectations of citizens," the Times quoted Governor Kathleen Sebelius, D-Kan., as saying in an interview. "We're responsible for border-to-border security in our states in the most difficult economic times since the Great Depression. Is there more money we could use? Yes. Is there enough money? Not by any means," she said.

For their part, governors need to submit state security plans to Homeland Security by the end of the year to help the department determine how federal funding is being spent, Ridge said. "It's not just a question of input, it's outcomes as well," he said.

Ridge praised state and local officials for their part in helping to improve homeland security following the Sept. 11 attacks.

"We still have a long, long way to go, but I'm confident that if we can work through the governors, and through the governors work down to the mayors and local government, we will get stronger and more secure every single day in the future, as we've done every single day since 9/11," Ridge said.