[BC] White House Just Evacuated

[DANA PUOPOLO]

Why, look what just cleared the wire!!

-D



Ridge Reveals Clashes on Alerts
Former Homeland Security Chief Debunks "Myth"

By Mimi Hall, USA TODAY

The Bush administration periodically put the USA on high alert for terrorist
attacks even though then-Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge argued there was
only flimsy evidence to justify raising the threat level, Ridge now says. 
 
Tom Ridge, the former Secretary of Homeland Security, said he wanted to refute
the "myth" that it was always his department that wanted to raise the threat
level from yellow to orange.

Ridge, who resigned Feb. 1, said Tuesday that he often disagreed with
administration officials who wanted to elevate the threat level to orange, or
"high" risk of terrorist attack, but was overruled.

His comments at a Washington forum describe spirited debates over terrorist
intelligence and provide rare insight into the inner workings of the nation's
homeland security apparatus.

Ridge said he wanted to "debunk the myth" that his agency was responsible for
repeatedly raising the alert under a color-coded system he unveiled in 2002.

"More often than not we were the least inclined to raise it," Ridge told
reporters. "Sometimes we disagreed with the intelligence assessment. Sometimes
we thought even if the intelligence was good, you don't necessarily put the
country on (alert). ... There were times when some people were really
aggressive about raising it, and we said, 'For that?' "

Revising or scrapping the color-coded alert system is under review by new
Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff. Department spokesman Brian
Roehrkasse said "improvements and adjustments" may be announced within the
next few months.