quote of the day

"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.

I considered the episode to be not only a dramatic moment in Washington's recent history, but another illustration of the intersection of politics, fear, credibility and security.

After that episode, I knew I had to follow through with my plans to leave the federal government."

– tom ridge
secretary of homeland security under george w. bush

the "position" and "episode" ridge is talking about: on october 29, 2004, four days before the presidential election, attorney general john ashcroft strongly urged ridge to raise the nation's terror threat level, with strong support coming from secretary of defense donald rumsfeld.