Ridge resigns as homeland security leader

After two and a half years in one of the most challenging leadership positions in Washington, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on Tuesday afternoon announced his intention to step down by Feb. 1 or sooner, if the Senate confirms his yet-to-be-nominated successor before then.

Ridge, as the first secretary of Homeland Security, presided over the most extensive governmental reorganizations in five decades. The establishment of Homeland Security in the spring of 2003 brought together elements of 22 different agencies into a single Cabinet-level department. Both the White House and Ridge, who joined the Bush administration as the president's adviser on homeland security following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, initially opposed the creation of the new department. But once its creation by Congress became inevitable, the former governor of Pennsylvania embraced Homeland Security's leadership position like the good soldier he once was.

"Ridge's legacy is going to be largely very positive," said Jack Riley, associate director of the infrastructure, safety and environment division at RAND Corp. The job of bringing together agencies as disparate as the Customs Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Border Patrol, the Coast Guard and the Secret Service, among others, has proved enormously complicated, yet "the components are working together and they have a clear and focused mission," Riley said, citing that fact as one of Ridge's "great unheralded successes."

That's not to say the department doesn't continue to face enormous challenges. One key problem is that much of authority and responsibility for what generally is referred to as "homeland security" is outside the department's control. More than 90 percent of the country's critical infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector, for example.

The department's ability to substantially improve security over time will depend on how well it can coordinate activity with the private sector, as well as support state and local law enforcement and emergency responders. While the department has administered millions of dollars in grants to state, local and private authorities, thus far the formula for distributing funds to those entities-a formula crafted by Congress-has been driven more by political risk than by the actual risk of terrorist threat.

Ridge's successor will face serious management challenges as well. The enforcement arm of the Border and Transportation Security bureau is experiencing serious budget shortfalls. This is perhaps most notable in the agency's failed detention program. Americans might be surprised to know that when the Border Patrol picks up illegal immigrants in some parts of the country, unless those immigrants are known to be dangerous or involved in criminal activity, they are likely to be released because there is simply not enough room for them in the agency's current detention system-nor is there funding to pay for their incarceration at other facilities. While those individuals are given a summons to appear before an immigration judge, it is widely understood that the vast majority of them will simply disappear into American communities.

Some of the department's most significant challenges relate to border security. The United States shares more than 6,000 miles of land border with Canada and Mexico. Despite a tremendous expansion of resources devoted to border security-mainly an increase in personnel and technology deployed to thwart illegal entry-more than 1 million people continue to enter the country illegally every year-most by walking across the southwest border.

Until Congress and the administration can address some of the difficult economic issues surrounding illegal immigration, the country will continue to be flooded with would-be workers, overwhelming the efforts of federal, state and local law enforcement officials along the borders.

At a press conference Tuesday, Ridge said, "There is enormous international dimension to securing the homeland," and he expressed some regret that the department had not acted sooner to reach out to U.S. trade partners. "Part of me wishes we'd have started a little bit earlier, but there were other things that it seemed at the time were higher priorities."

"Just pulling together the department is a legacy," says Gerald Epstein, senior fellow for science and security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. It may be years before it becomes clear how well or how poorly the department is really functioning, but he credits Ridge with setting the department on solid footing and moving its component agencies toward a common goal.

In the letter of resignation he hand-delivered to President Bush Tuesday morning, Ridge thanked the president for the opportunity to serve as the first secretary of Homeland Security. "One of the few consolations for the families affected by the tragedy of Flight 93 is the fact that the passengers and crew, knowing their fate, fought back to avoid an even greater tragedy. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to fight back."