Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said today he was not pressured to raise the threat level days before the 2004 elections, despite writing in a new book that Attorney General John Ashcroft and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld “strongly urged” him to do so.
In The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege, Ridge wrote that although the men wanted to up the alert level, “There was absolutely no support for that position within our department. None. I wondered, ‘Is this about security or politics?'”
But now, Ridge is telling Good Morning America and the Erie Times-News that people are “hyperventilating” over what he wrote and taking it the wrong way. Compare for yourself.
From the book:
A vigorous, some might say dramatic, discussion ensued. Ashcroft strongly urged an increase in the threat level and was supported by Rumsfeld. … We were on the verge of making a huge mistake. … I believe our strong interventions had pulled the “go-up” advocates back from the brink.
Today, on Good Morning America:
[Ashcroft and Rumsfeld] expressed their opinions. … The process worked … It was designed so that nobody could pressure anybody to do anything. A consensus was reached.
And from the Erie Times-News:
There was no pressure at all.
