Ridge comes to San Diego and defends color-coded warning system

By: EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer | Wednesday, December 15, 2004 12:02 AM PST ∞

SAN DIEGO ---- Outgoing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge defended the nation's color-coded terror warning system before a panel of security advisers who met in San Diego on Tuesday morning.

"I think the system is here to stay," Ridge said. "I just think we clearly have to look at what kinds of information we need to give to the public."

The Homeland Security Advisory Council, a group of experts that advises the department on security matters, was in San Diego this week for a series of meetings at the invitation of Richard Andrews, California's Homeland Security advisor. Andrews serves on the council.

The council voted to review the color-coded system that warns the public and emergency officials about potential terrorist threats. Ridge later told reporters that a third port of entry along San Diego County's border with Mexico might be a good idea to ease increasingly long border waits.

One of the panel's members, retired Maj. Gen. Bruce Lawlor, said that the warning system, which was originally meant to communicate information quickly to local law enforcement officials, has outlived its purpose.

"I'm not suggesting that we do away with communications with the public. What I'm suggesting is that maybe you do away with the color-coded system," Lawlor said.

The threat warning system has been under intense criticism since it was created after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The threat system, which uses colors indicating the level of threat from green to red, has been raised and lowered often with little information to the public about what they should do in response.

A report released earlier this week by the Heritage Foundation and the Center for Strategic and International Studies recommended that the Department of Homeland Security remove the color-coded system in favor of a system of regional alerts.

Ridge, who is leaving the department in February, defended the color-coded system. But he agreed with the advisory panel that the system needed to be reviewed.

The Homeland Security Advisory Council, which is made up of business representatives, academic leaders and security experts appointed by the president, voted unanimously to collect information from the public and the media about the threat system.

Following a day of closed-door sessions, the panel also voted Tuesday to adopt several other recommendations. They included plans to identify potential private-sector terror targets, suggestions on how to improve terrorism-related fields of study and how to bolster terror-related training.

After the meeting, Ridge answered questions from reporters about his departure, his potential successor, illegal immigration and a potential third port of entry at the U.S. border with Mexico at San Diego and Tijuana.

Ridge said it was up to others to decide what his legacy would be as the department's first secretary. The agency was formed after the terrorist attacks three years ago to coordinate national security efforts, including taking charge of the country's immigration agencies.

President Bush recently named Bernard B. Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner, as Ridge's potential successor. But Kerik withdrew his name Friday after it was learned that he had hired an illegal immigrant as a housekeeper.

Ridge called the Kerik's announcement a "blip on the radar screen."

"Kerik's decision to withdraw was appropriate," Ridge told reporters. "He knew his nomination would be, obviously, a very difficult one. The White House will have the name of a successor very shortly. I'm sure."

Ridge said improving communications between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement agencies have allowed authorities to better target illegal immigrant smugglers and drug traffickers on both sides of the border.

"There is more and better integration over the last year and a half than has ever existed before, and because law enforcement is linked up tighter than it has before, were sharing more information," he said.

Ridge added: "If we can do a better job against those traditional kinds of enemies, were also closing the doors on potential terrorists."

The border poses a difficult problem for officials who have suggested the U.S. border with Mexico could be vulnerable to terrorists, but who also see the need to speed the flow of people and commerce across it.

Ridge said adding a third port of entry in the Tijuana and San Diego County region could be a solution.

"There has to be an assessment as to whether or not there is adequate infrastructure at our borders in order to improve efficiency," he said.

Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-5426 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.

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