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Posted on 12/14/2001 11:58:15 PM PST by kattracks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said in an interview on Friday he planned to develop a national system of ranking the severity of terrorism alerts in an effort to avoid "alert fatigue."

Ridge told Reuters the system would rank alerts to the public and police on factors such as credibility, making it more informative than recent threat alerts which have been criticized as too vague to be useful.

"I know that the long-term use of just a general alert will ultimately create what the president and everyone else is concerned of, and that's called 'alert fatigue,"' he said.

Ridge also said in the interview that:

-- He held preliminary talks with the Defense Department about a possible domestic defense command, in which the regular armed forces would have a role in homeland security.

-- The Bush administration next year would seek more money for emergency services such as police and fire departments, public health, aviation security and bioterrorism.

-- America's long borders with Mexico and Canada could remain largely unprotected even as steps were taken to keep out would-be terrorists.

-- Americans were better protected against anthrax as a result of what was learned in the recent outbreak, and he hoped investigators were closing in on a culprit.

President Bush appointed Ridge to head a new White House Office of Homeland Security in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Ridge, who stepped down as Pennsylvania governor to take the job, is in charge of developing a long-term domestic security plan and overseeing the response to incidents of terrorism.

"A LANGUAGE OF ALERT"

Ridge said he hoped to develop the alert system early next year in conjunction with state leaders, law enforcement experts and the FBI.

He compared it to the Defense Department's five-stage DefCon system of ranking military threats, but said the challenge of developing a "language of alert" for domestic terror threats is different, due to a widely varying credibility of intelligence.

"It's a shadow enemy, and it's a shadow war," he said.

"Once we get information that we feel we very appropriately need to communicate to certain people, it will be communicated in a way that reflects the quality of the information ... so we get beyond general alerts," he said.

Americans have been placed on high alert against unspecified attacks three times since Sept. 11. The most recent was issued Dec. 3 in conjunction with religious holidays.

The military's DefCon is a five-stage system, with DefCon 5 representing normal peacetime readiness for the military and DefCon 1 a state of maximum readiness, implying war.

Ridge rapped his knuckles twice on the polished wood desk of his West Wing office when asked whether the recent anthrax outbreak had passed and investigators were nearing a suspect.

"Hopefully, peripherally, but it's always the uncertainty that is most problematic," he said. Ridge said he had "no idea" whether additional anthrax-tainted letters were likely to be found.

A DOMESTIC ANTHRAX SUSPECT?

The FBI and other investigators increasingly suspect the letters were sent by a domestic-based, rather than foreign, culprit, he said. This was counter to his own initial suspicions of a foreign source, which he said had not been ruled out.

Asked if the public would be better protected in a future outbreak, he said, "I suspect that we would handle it differently."

"Any time you enhance your scientific and medical knowledge about something as virulent as this or any other bacteria or virus, you are by definition empowered with greater knowledge and therefore better able to respond next time it happens."

Ridge said his long-term homeland security plan would begin to be unveiled in the Bush administration's fiscal 2003 budget request, due next February.

He highlighted the importance of more money for the emergency teams like those which raced to New York's World Trade Center on Sept. 11. "These men and women around the country are the front line of homeland security ... and that's obviously a very high priority," he said.

Other priorities include aviation security, military intelligence and the nation's public health system.

Ridge said he had early talks with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld about a possible domestic military command, in which a four-star general would be appointed to coordinate troops for defending the U.S. homeland from attack. A decision would be made later by the Pentagon.

"There will be times that we may need to draw on the assets of the military. They may not necessarily be forces," he said.

He said the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico, whose largely unprotected expanses have been a source of pride to all three countries, could remain that way. "I believe they can," he said. "This gives us a chance ... to enhance security but also to improve and facilitate commerce among the countries."

There has been speculation Ridge could succeed Vice President Dick Cheney on the Republican ticket if Cheney, who has a history of heart trouble, does not run in 2004.

Asked whether he had ambitions for another elective office, Ridge, a former governor of Pennsylvania, said, "This is it, I won't even speculate about that. I didn't plan on returning to Washington in any capacity. But when the president calls, he's a pretty convincing and persuasive person, particularly in light of Sept. 11."

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