The Test of our Times: on Homeland Security

Barack Obama: Promises to close Guantanamo & treat prisoners as POWs

President Barack Obama will close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and remove the "unlawful enemy combatants" status from those detained. Both charges will accelerate resolution of the basic questions that remain: What is the adjudication process and what is the standard against which their actions will be measured to justify release?

Bill Clinton: Warned public in 1990s that anthrax threat was coming

Charles Schumer: No Dubai Ports Deal; Arab Emirates funded 9-11

The Democrats correctly anticipated the country's uninformed view of the deal. Sen. Schumer cast aspersions on the deal, on the Bush Administration, and on Arab [deals] in general. He said that he was concerned that the company could be infiltrated by terrorists with designs on exploiting the vulnerability of American ports. He noted that the 9-11 attacks were financed in part by money that had passed through banks in the United Arab Emirates [which includes Dubai].

While that may have been true, it was also true that we had no evidence that the government of the country o Dubai Ports World had anything to do with planning or carrying out the attacks. The issue here is that, in an atmosphere of intense politics, Schumer's protest struck a sensitive nerve and ultimately killed the deal.

Colin Powell: 2001: Strongly objected to tracking who enters country

Donald Rumsfeld: 2004 "snowflake": keep terrorism alive as an issue

On November 1, 2007, The Washington Post reported that Donald Rumsfeld's "snowflakes," his memos to staff members, had pointed out the need to keep terrorism alive as an issue throughout his tenure as secretary. Terrorism was a legitimate issue, and references to it benefited the administration politically.

George W. Bush: 2001: We will not tire,we will not falter & we will not fail

George W. Bush: Created DHS; reorganization since 1947 creation of DoD

The new Department of Homeland Security would be composed of nearly 180,000 federal employees, drawn from parts or all of 22 units of government, including the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, element of the INS, security guards at airports, and Customs. The department would have an initial budget of $37.5 billion. Even so, it was less than the budget of the Department of Education and less than 1/10 of what the Department of Defense spends in a year.

George W. Bush: Terrorists aren't POWs, so not entitled to Geneva Convention

Jim Gilmore: Pre-9-11, Congress sensed terrorism was a rising threat

John Ashcroft: Introduced 5-color terror alert system in 2002

John Ashcroft: 2003: Be on the lookout for "Azzam the American"

Later that afternoon, Ashcroft had a far different message. He went to the airwaves to ask Americans to be on the lookout for Adam Yahiy Gadahn. Born Adam Pearlman, he appeared on a number of Al Qaeda videos, and was identified on these as "Azzam the American." He was subsequently charged in this country with treason.

But Ashcroft's warning that a plot that Gadahn and others were involved in--by Ashcroft's estimation, 90% done--a massive attack on the US, seemed to us at DHS to be overstated, to put it charitably.

I was told by the president bluntly that I had undermined Ashcroft. I was reminded that counterterrorism is one of the administration's highest priorities, and that a unified front ad to be presented. The Department of Justice was unapologetic about playing offense. DHS played defense. Advantage DOJ.

Mike Bloomberg: New York was 49th lowest per-capita in post-9-11 DHS grants

The per capita comparison was misleading. If you look at the numbers, New York and Washington got the bulk of the money. In the second round of grants, we got the FBI to assess the threats and tied grants to them. The political reality is you're not going to get representatives and senators from smaller states to vote in favor of a program that sends funds to only a few larger states, and nothing to anyone else.

Newt Gingrich: Post-9/11, it's terrorism vs. civilization

Peter King: Don't treat Dubai Ports Deal in a pre-9-11 way

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) became one of the early critics of the Dubai Ports deal. "This can't be treated in a pre-9/11 way," he told the media. "There was a tone deafness here that indicates they didn't show the level of concern that it warranted." Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) cast aspersions on the deal, on the Bush Administration, and on Arab [deals] in general. He noted that the 9-11 attacks were financed in part by money that had passed through banks in the United Arab Emirates [which includes Dubai].

While that may have been true, the issue here is that, in an atmosphere of intense politics, Schumer's protest struck a sensitive nerve and ultimately killed the deal. Schumer had beaten the administration at its own game of using national security as a political weapon.

Robert Byrd: Required public disclosure of where DHS money is going

Then he pulled out a well-thumbed pocket edition of the Constitution. Referring to it, Sen. Byrd said, "This says Congress has the power of the purse." He wasn't interested, he said, in private briefings. He wanted public testimony. He said, "I am unaware of any instance in which a private briefing has been used as a substitute for responding to a Senate Appropriations Committee request for testimony concerning a funding need." Sen. Byrd's approach with me was clever, cordial, and always gracious.

Ted Kennedy: Stopped at airport gates; established TSA ombudsman

Tom Ridge: 9/11 reaction: We will find those responsible

I stood there stone-faced, but my insides were churning. I thought of my own kids, and thousands of other children, who had by then viewed those horrible images from the Twin Towers over and over. Many thoughts and images came to mind. I stood silently in front of the cameras for about fifteen seconds--which in television is almost a lifetime. (Later aides told me that they thought they saw me tear up for the first time.) I responded, finally, more in terms of a dad than as a governor:

"It's pretty difficult to explain to your kids that there are people in the world who would kill innocent men, women, and children and subject them to the enormous terror associated with these events to advance a cause. There's nobody that's claimed, as I understand to date, responsibility for these acts. Whether they do or not, we will find them."

Tom Ridge: 2001: Nation was not equipped to deal with bioterrorism

After 9/11, bioterrorism became a subject of widespread speculation and concern. A survey of health officials indicated the nation was not equipped to deal with terrorist attacks using biological weapons. The big problem, one official said, was "lack of basic public health infrastructure and preparedness that could thwart a terror attack of limit its effects."

Tom Ridge: Governors must show up at disaster locations

As a governor, I'd had to deal with the results of floods, tornadoes, prison breaks, and terrible accidents. As difficult as that was, there was always a clear way to proceed. Rule number one: Go there, and do what you can to help. Identify with the suffering. There was a finality to other tragedies, but in this case, I wondered, "When will this end?" Moreover, the more I learned about the level of our preparedness as a nation, the more I understood the immense task ahead.

Tom Ridge: Nobody knew about Al Qaeda or radical Islam until 9/11

Yet in all my conversations with fellow governors over the years at our semiannual meetings I don't recall a single session devoted to domestic terrorism or to Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman (the man behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing), radical Islam generally, or Al Qaeda in particular. As we later learned, we were not alone on our ignorance or dismissal of this developing, malignant force. Information that emerged after 9/11 revealed th Central Intelligence Agency had tried to get the threat of imminent terrorism on the agendas of the White House and the FBI, with limited success. Neither the term "Al Qaeda" nor the name bin Laden was widely known until after the 1993 attack.

Tom Ridge: Post-9-11 goal: tell Americans specifics about threats

One of our key tasks would be to offer particulars and do it in such a way that they would contribute to a better understanding of what potential threats there might be and, we hoped, to an ever increasing confidence in the government's efforts to thwart them.

Tom Ridge: Duct Tape Debacle: public mocked our "Ready Campaign"

We decided to encourage people to be prepared for an emergency by having valuable, even lifesaving supplies at home. Our "Ready Campaign": we suggested three days' worth of food and water, a battery-operated radio, medical and emergency supplies, and home protection materials intended to seal off threats from atmospheric poisons. These materials included plastic sheeting and duct tape, to be stored in a "safe room."

The campaign had some unanticipated results: One was that there was a general run on duct tape and plastic sheeting in hardware and home supply stores.

Finally, duct tape became a metaphor and punch line for late-night comedians. Duct tape in an age of potential nuclear holocaust? Duct tape is a symbol of the Bush administration's nickel-and-diming of homeland security? Duct tape as Tom Ridge taking a great threat and reducing it to a home do-it-yourself project?

Tom Ridge: Reinterpreting FISA secretly seems like unauthorized power

The 4th Amendment to the Constitution is unambiguous. Under no circumstance can we voluntarily surrender a constitutionally protected right.

After I left the administration, the White House inquired if I could publicly support the President's use of FISA. I said I could and would but felt it was imperative the White House work with Congress to amend the FISA statute to comport with the new electronic means of surveillance and the original congressional intent. At that point they lost interest in having this discussion. I never got a call to defend their use of FISA.

Tom Ridge: Threat advisory system: not politically told "Go to orange"

In spite of allegations of playing politics, as time went on, our office was more often than not the most reluctant to raise the threat level. Despite perception to the contrary, the White House couldn't, as a matter of course, call us up and say, "Go to orange, Tom." First, we would never have done so regardless of where the order originated. There would have been mass resignations, and no change in the threat level.

Let me make it very clear. I was never directed to do so 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.

Tom Ridge: Guantanamo holds theological zealots, not POWs

Several months after the opening of the prison I met with a friend over dinner, an army general, who had been involved in many of the interrogations. "Some of those bastards," he said, "should remain on that rock forever." Others, he disclosed, were in the wrong place at the wrong time. We are still wrestling with how to distinguish who is and who is not a terrorist. We still argue about the type of due process, if any, and promise to close the prison without any clear plan of how we will deal with those we do identify as terrorists.

Tom Ridge: No Orwellian oppression, but inconveniences are ok

On the domestic front, we didn't want neighbors to spy on each other, or patriots to turn into vigilantes. It wasn't our intention to fill citizens with unnecessary worry. We simply wanted people to become more aware of what was happening around them, to be on the lookout for anything that didn't look right.

Tom Ridge: OpEd: Diverted attention to terrorism for political gain

In almost any other situation in government or anywhere else, praising the boss would not be an issue. But in this case, citing "the result of the president's leadership" was loaded with political implication, and this was not lost on our critics. John Kerry had just been nominated for president at the Democratic Party convention. Our announcement, as delivered with the loaded words, was seen by some as a way to divert attention from that event and to reinforce in the minds of Americans that--even as Democrats enjoyed their hour upon the political stage--only the Republican incumbent could keep America safe.

Tom Ridge: Overcome barriers between CIA and FBI

Tom Ridge: We will never celebrate a Victory over Terrorism Day

• Do I think America will ever celebrate a Victory over Terrorism Day when we can say with confidence and pride that we vanquished our extremist foes? No.
• Do I think there are philosophical and financial limits to the measures we should take to secure ourselves against this threat? Yes.
• Do I think America is willing to accept a certain level of risk of future attacks? I'm not certain.
• Should we accept some risk and get on with our lives? Yes!

Tommy Thompson: Pre-9-11: confident we could react to bioterrorism

A post 9/11 group immersed itself in its theoretical discussions, an aide interrupted with news that any sense of the theoretical was now in the past. Robert Stevens, who worked in the art department of the "Sun", a supermarket tabloid based in Boca Raton FL, had apparently been poisoned by anthrax spores and taken to a hospital.

The question in everyone's mind and on many people's lips was: Was the contamination the work of terrorists, and if so, was it connected to 9/11? Was it a criminal act? Or did it have a more benign, natural explanation. Tommy Thompson suggested to the media that Stevens had been exposed to anthrax from spores on his clothes or drinking water from a creek. But the evidence indicated intentional poisoning.