Tom Ridge
Tom Ridge
Thomas Joseph "Tom" Ridgeis an American politician who served as the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security from 2001 to 2003, and the first United States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2003 to 2005. Prior to this, Ridge was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1983 to 1995 and the 43rd Governor of Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2001. He is a member of the Republican Party...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth26 August 1945
CityMunhall, PA
CountryUnited States of America
Our goal is to deter any potential attack with multiple layers of security and, based on what I have seen and heard, I can tell you that the security plans and arrangements and commitment of federal, state and local officials is very, very strong,
Yeah, we weren't certain, ... Still, in the context of everything else (intelligence chatter and a terror attack in Saudi Arabia), we could not set it aside and dismiss it as not credible.
We know they have the capability to succeed and they also hold the mistaken belief that their attacks will have an impact on America's resolve,
While there are no indications that terrorists are planning similar attacks in the United States in the near term, we have asked train and rail operators in the country to be on a heightened state of alert,
These credible sources, ... suggest the possibility of attacks against the homeland around the holiday season and beyond.
An emergency is not the time to plan; it's the time to react, so be informed, ... The actions you would take in a conventional attack may be counterproductive if you took them in response to a different kind of attack.
It was an attack against us all, because it sought in its violence to divide us by the color of our skin and the nations of our ancestors.
I think we've accomplished a great deal in a short period of time, ... We have to be right a billion-plus times a year. ... The terrorists only have to be right once.
It is as reliable a source, group of sources that we've ever seen before.
I think there is a significant minority within the party that would either like it removed from the platform or at least a recognition that decent God-fearing people don't always have the same view on this,
We'll want them to pull in all that information and sort it out between rumor and suspicion and fact and speculation and misinformation and do an assessment, do an analysis and then communicate it -- if it's a real threat -- communicate that to state and local governments,
requesting some $36.2 billion clearly communicates this administration's commitment to investing in our Homeland Security.
Maybe that's very much the reason that you'd be worried about it, because you hadn't seen it before,
It all adds up to this: your country is ready, not waiting,